LA UPCOMING STUFF - APRIL 2013

a highly-opinionated selection of things happening around town, and sometimes out of town. this month's page here.

fri. apr. 5

spokenest @ the smell
zardoz, fantastic planet, quest @ lacma
excalibur MIDNIGHT @ nuart
follow me down FREE @ hammer museum
try and get me, hell drivers @ noir city @ egyptian
the grapes of wrath 8 PM @ new beverly
neighboring sounds 7:15 PM @ silent movie theater
two-lane blacktop 10 PM @ silent movie theater
sweet smell of success @ ucla film archive
neighboring sounds FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc ray stark
catwalk, chad & the meatbodies @ echoplex


sat. apr. 6

quintet (1979) 5 PM @ lacma
the man who fell to earth @ lacma
april fools night @ retroformat @ spielberg @ egyptian
sunset boulevard, the other woman @ noir city @ egyptian
the misfits, wild river @ aero
the grapes of wrath 4:30 8:00 PM @ new beverly
monty python's life of brian MIDNIGHT @ new beverly
neighboring sounds 6:30 PM @ silent movie theater
two-lane blacktop 9:50 PM @ silent movie theater
the crimson pirate, trapeze @ ucla film archive
el chico que miente FREE (RSVP) 1 PM @ usc ray stark
chinese take-away FREE (RSVP) 3 PM @ usc ray stark
the milk of sorrow FREE (RSVP) 5 PM @ usc ray stark
fancy space people (MIDNIGHT) FREE @ footsie's
diy art space or whatever (workshop) 4 PM @ machine


sun. apr. 7

bonjour mr. lewis part six 4 PM, the ladies man @ silent movie theater
chaplin (1992) 2 PM @ egyptian
repeat performance, he walked by night @ noir city @ egyptian
judgment at nuremberg @ aero
futures market FREE 7 PM @ ucla film archive
endless bummer (3:00) @ the noise barn
elite squad FREE (RSVP) NOON @ usc ray stark
elite squad: the enemy within FREE (RSVP) 2:15 PM @ usc ray stark
the maid FREE (RSVP) 4:30 PM @ usc ray stark
old cats FREE (RSVP) 8 PM @ usc ray stark
leighton pierce: familial time defamiliarized @ filmforum @ spielberg @ egyptian
chitty chitty bang bang 5 PM, willy wonka & the chocolate factory @ new beverly
east of eden 4 PM @ arclight hollywood
army of shadows FREE 7 PM @ reel grit @ afi


mon. apr. 8

essay films FREE 6 PM @ documental @ unurban
experiences in transformative time: new work by leighton pierce 8:30 PM @ redcat
suddenly last summer @ aero
neighboring sounds 4:45 PM @ silent movie theater
a child is waiting, come back little sheba @ ucla film archive
jellyfish eyes @ film independent @ lacma
willy wonka & the chocolate factory, chitty chitty bang bang @ new beverly


tue. apr. 9

bell gardens FREE @ three clubs
the lady eve 1 PM @ lacma
neighboring sounds 7:30 PM @ silent movie theater
cuchillo de palo (108) FREE @ melnitz movies @ ucla james bridges
gangs of wasseypur part i 7 PM @ indian film festival @ arclight hollywood
kingdom of the spiders, the dark @ new beverly
octopussy @ alex theatre


wed. apr. 10

house by the river, secret beyond the door @ noir city @ egyptian
i confess @ aero
rear window, rope @ new beverly
neighboring sounds 7:20 PM @ silent movie theater
lost & found film club 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater
simon killer FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc ray stark
pad yatra: a green odyssey 7:15 PM @ indian film festival @ arclight hollywood
gangs of wasseypur part ii 8:45 PM @ indian film festival @ arclight hollywood
to the wonder FREE (RSVP) @ indie focus @ laemmle noho 7


thu. apr. 11

the case against brooklyn, city across the river @ noir city @ egyptian
slap shot @ aero
rear window, rope @ new beverly
neighboring sounds 7:20 PM @ silent movie theater
simon killer FREE @ melnitz movies @ ucla james bridges
eega 6:45 PM @ indian film festival @ arclight hollywood
silsila 9:30 @ indian film festival @ arclight hollywood
bouquet @ human resources


fri. apr. 12

street of chance, night has a thousand eyes @ noir city @ egyptian
arrington de dionyso's malaikat dan singa, survival knife @ the smell
bringing out the dead, devil in a blue dress @ aero
electra glide in blue, drive @ new beverly
the last starfighter MIDNIGHT @ new beverly
consuming spirits 8 PM @ silent movie theater
vera cruz, the professionals @ ucla film archive
ship of theseus 9:30 PM @ indian film festival @ arclight hollywood
janis crystal lipzin & alee peoples 8 PM @ epfc


sat. apr. 13

thee midniters, untamed youth, loons, thee cormans, deke dickerson's frat & garage band, etc @ norton records benefit show @ the echo
high tide, chicago calling @ noir city @ egyptian
electra glide in blue 3:05 7:30 PM, drive 5:20 9:45 PM @ new beverly
jerry beck presents: funny paper follies 4 PM @ silent movie theater
consuming spirits 7 PM @ silent movie theater
downpour @ ucla film archive
miss lovely 4 PM @ indian film festival @ arclight hollywood
salma 6 PM @ indian film festival @ arclight hollywood
shahid 9:15 PM @ indian film festival @ arclight hollywood
point and shoot: videos by george kuchar (a celebration) @ filmforum @ spielberg @ egyptian


sun. apr. 14

twin peaks episode 2.20 (time TBA), episode 2.21, episode 2.22 FREE @ twin peaks retrospective @ usc norris cinema
appointment with a shadow, guilty bystander @ noir city @ egyptian
consuming spirits 7:45 PM @ silent movie theater
modest reception 4:00 7:00 PM @ ucla film archive
kabhi kabhie NOON @ indian film festival @ arclight hollywood
celluloid man 1 PM @ indian film festival @ arclight hollywood
starbound: new videos by mike kuchar @ filmforum @ spielberg @ egyptian
untamed youth @ joe's great american, burbank (7 PM, early show)


mon. apr. 15

cauleen smith: black utopia lp (for sun ra) 8:30 PM @ redcat
spiritualized @ pappy & harriet's (pioneertown)
strutter (screening), j mascis (performance) @ egyptian
consuming spirits 3:30 PM @ silent movie theater
the taking of pelham one two three (1974) @ greg proops film club @ silent movie theater
at any price FREE (RSVP) 8 PM @ indie focus @ laemmle noho 7
inexplicable los angeles: ghosts and traces, 1940-1990 FREE 7 PM @ usc doheny library lecture hall 240


tue. apr. 16

king khan & bbq show @ troubadour
tyondai braxton @ disney hall
bell gardens FREE @ three clubs
jung bouquet, mt. eerie @ l.a. fort (RSVP)
consuming spirits 4:30 PM @ silent movie theater
sybil @ silent movie theater
on her majesty's secret service @ alex theatre
the godfather: part ii 7 PM @ arclight pasadena
django unchained @ new beverly
in the house 7:45 PM @ colcoa @ dga truffaut theatre
a few hours of spring 8:30 PM @ colcoa @ dga renoir theatre


wed. apr. 17

lee fields & the expressions @ troubadour
cry of the city, the killers (1946) @ noir city @ egyptian
little fugitive, the 400 blows @ new beverly
consuming spirits 10:15 PM @ silent movie theater
enter the dragon @ ampas samuel goldwyn
citizen kane @ arclight sherman oaks
the fire within 1:30 PM @ colcoa @ dga truffaut theatre


thu. apr. 18

undercover man, so dark the night @ noir city @ egyptian
little fugitive, the 400 blows @ new beverly
consuming spirits 4:30 PM @ silent movie theater
the beaver trilogy @ silent movie theater
masters of cut-out animation 10:15 PM @ animation breakdown @ silent movie theater
rhino season @ ucla film archive
safety last! @ film independent @ lacma
jean-gabriel periot 8 PM @ epfc
ian svenonius: super-natural strategies for making a rock n roll group @ stories
stavisky 1:45 PM @ colcoa @ dga truffaut theatre
therese 5:15 PM @ colcoa @ dga truffaut theatre
you ain't seen nothing yet @ colcoa @ dga truffaut theatre


fri. apr. 19

the big lebowski MIDNIGHT @ nuart
native son, no way out (1950) @ noir city @ egyptian
rubin and ed @ silent movie theater
the beaver trilogy 10:10 PM @ silent movie theater
the monster squad MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater
films from the red sea institute of cinematic arts 8 PM @ epfc
the tenant, carnage @ new beverly
bay of angels 1:30 PM @ colcoa @ dga renoir theatre


sat. apr. 20

drunken angel FREE 7 PM @ getty center
la times festival of books @ usc
the clock (noon saturday through noon sunday) FREE @ lacma
merx, the urinals, etc FREE @ record store day @ permanent records
los angeles plays itself @ egyptian
man in the dark (3D), inferno (1953, 3D) @ noir city @ aero
rio 100 degrees @ ucla film archive
nilbog (10:15), the gates of hell 11:30 PM @ silent movie theater
new works salon 8 PM @ epfc
scream MIDNIGHT @ new beverly
the manzanar fishing club 2 PM @ japanese american national museum
the tenant 3:15 7:30 PM, carnage 5:40 9:55 PM @ new beverly
rendezvous in kiruna @ colcoa @ dga truffaut theatre


sun. apr. 21

tokyo story FREE 3 PM @ getty center
la times festival of books @ usc
the gold rush 4:10 7:30 PM, the kid 6:00 9:20 PM @ new beverly
the beaver trilogy 3 PM @ silent movie theater


mon. apr. 22

possession @ aero
the gold rush, the kid @ new beverly
the beaver trilogy 10 PM @ silent movie theater


tue. apr. 23

spectrum @ the echo
bell gardens FREE @ three clubs
buck privates 1 PM @ lacma
tribute to miles: herbie hancock, wayne shorter, marcus miller, vinnie colaiuta, sean jones @ disney hall
wayne's world (w/ cast & crew panel) @ ampas samuel goldwyn
the beaver trilogy 7:45 10:00 PM @ silent movie theater
graceland FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc ray stark
diamonds are forever @ alex theatre


wed. apr. 24

dead man, ghost dog: the way of the samurai @ new beverly
salo 11 PM @ silent movie theater
the beaver trilogy 5:15 PM @ silent movie theater
i drink your blood MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater
graceland FREE @ melnitz movies @ ucla james bridges
gilbert hernandez: from funnybooks to graphic novels @ skylight
stay at home wilburys @ largo


thu. apr. 25

dead man, ghost dog: the way of the samurai @ new beverly
trances @ silent movie theater
the beaver trilogy 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater
helvetica FREE @ melnitz movies @ ucla james bridges
accidental icon: the real gidget story FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc ray stark
la air: sharmaine starks 8 PM @ epfc
the man on the eiffel tower FREE 5 PM @ the crank @ ucla james bridges


fri. apr. 26

this is spinal tap MIDNIGHT @ nuart
jon brion @ largo
riki-oh: the story of ricky MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater
witness: juarez & witness: south sudan 8 PM @ epfc
twice upon a time @ silent movie theatre
in the mood for love, 2046 @ new beverly
phase iv 10:15 PM @ silent movie theater


sat. apr. 27

tokyo drifter FREE 4 PM @ getty center
street of shame FREE 7 PM @ getty center
miami connection MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theater
steady beat recordings 20 year anniversary party @ grand star
dirt dress @ pehrspace
animation freak-out night 8 PM @ epfc
chinatown 2:00 8:00 PM @ alex theatre
twice upon a time @ silent movie theatre
in the mood for love 2:50 7:30 PM, 2046 4:50 9:30 PM @ new beverly
phase iv 9:30 PM @ silent movie theater
la dolce vita @ cinespia @ los angeles theatre


sun. apr. 28

she and he FREE 3 PM @ getty center
the last step 7 PM @ ucla film archive
twice upon a time 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
phase iv 10 PM @ silent movie theater


mon. apr. 29

cabinets of wonder: films and a performance by charlotte pryce 8:30 PM @ redcat
the alloy orchestra plays to 'phantom of the opera' (1925) @ silent movie theater
the alloy orchestra plays to 'from morn to midnight' (1920) 10 PM @ silent movie theater
run silent run deep, from here to eternity @ ucla film archive


tue. apr. 30

bell gardens FREE @ three clubs
torn curtain 1 PM @ lacma
kaleidoscope uk @ satellite
live and let die @ alex theatre
citizen kane 7 PM @ arclight pasadena


wed. may 1

gap dream @ satellite
citizen kane @ cinerama dome
shaun of the dead @ capetown festival @ egyptian


thu. may 2

safe FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ todd haynes: from underground to hbo @ usc ray stark
the thing (1982) @ capetown festival @ egyptian


fri. may 3

tamaryn @ echoplex
tent of miracles, how tasty was my little frenchman @ ucla film archive
arcadia FREE @ melnitz movies @ ucla james bridges
escape from new york 7 PM @ capetown festival @ egyptian


sat. may 4

the killers (1946), criss cross @ ucla film archive


sun. may 5

twin peaks: fire walk with me FREE (RSVP) 6 PM @ usc norris cinema
krautrock nite @ part time punks @ echo
the goonies 4 PM @ capetown festival @ egyptian
twelve monkeys 8 PM @ capetown festival @ egyptian


mon. may 6

barren lives, gold mouth @ ucla film archive
thursday till sunday FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc ray stark



tue. may 7

succubus, the demons @ grindhouse film festival @ new beverly



wed. may 8

bleached @ troubadour
house 8 PM @ silent movie theater
frances ha FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc ray stark
net shaker @ echo country outpost
everything loose will land (opening reception) 6-9 PM @ schindler house
the trial, shadows and fog @ new beverly


thu. may 9

the experimental shorts of nobuhiko obayashi @ silent movie theater
house 10:15 PM @ silent movie theater
the source family 8 PM @ the standard, west hollywood
qui (10:30) @ el cid
sorcerer, cruising @ aero
the trial, shadows and fog @ new beverly
before midnight FREE (RSVP) @ melnitz movies @ ucla james bridges
pieta FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc broccoli theatre
journey to italy, stromboli @ lacma
l.a. witch @ silver lake lounge
time as material 7 PM @ moca grand ave


fri. may 10

man or astro-man? @ the echo
the good the bad and the ugly (extended version) MIDNIGHT @ nuart
monty python's the meaning of life, the adventures of baron munchausen @ egyptian
the french connection, to live and die in l.a. @ aero
the story of adele h., the man who loved women @ new beverly
gone with the pope 11:55 PM @ grindhouse film festival @ new beverly
the source family 7:15 10:00 PM @ silent movie theater
flower buds @ ucla film archive
frances ha FREE (RSVP) @ melnitz movies @ ucla james bridges
el general 7 PM, intimidades de shakespeare y victor hugo FREE (RSVP) @ lacma
portrait of jason 8 PM @ ampas linwood dunn


sat. may 11

alien @ electric dusk drive-in
gypsy, made in ash @ ucla film archive


sun. may 12

memoirs of prison 7 PM @ ucla film archive
art21: 'identity' & 'william kentridge' 2 PM FREE @ lacma

		
tue. may 14

short films starring llyn foulkes FREE @ hammer


sat. may 18

hepcat, aggrolites @ house of blues anaheim


sun. may 19

art21: 'place' & 'spirituality' 2 PM FREE @ lacma


mon. may 20

the elegaic visions of phil solomon 8:30 PM @ redcat


tue. may 21

black angels @ mayan
the milky way FREE @ hammer


thu. may 23

bullfighter and the lady FREE 5 PM @ the crank @ ucla james bridges


fri. may 24

the loons w/ glenn ross campbell, etc @ ugly things 30th anniversary day one @ the casbah (SD)
gap dream, mikal cronin, pangea @ the echo
detroit cobras @ down & out


sat. may 25

love revisited, the rosalyns, "the pretty things - midnight to six" (screening), etc @ ugly things 30th anniversary day two @ the casbah (SD)


sun. may 26

nashville ramblers, "lester bangs: the el cajon years" (screening), etc @ ugly things 30th anniversary day three @ the casbah (SD)
all about eve @ electric dusk drive-in
matt mccormick films FREE 7 PM @ 7 dudley cinema @ beyond baroque


fri. may 31

three-dee music fest @ artshare la


sat. jun. 1

three-dee music fest @ artshare la
to catch a thief 8 PM @ last remaining seats @ orpheum


sun. jun. 2

brute force 7 PM, kiss the blood off my hands @ ucla film archive


mon. jun. 3

in the shadow @ ucla film archive


fri. jun. 7

gunfight at the o.k. corral, i walk alone @ ucla film archive


sat. jun. 8

the outre world of rolf forsberg @ ucla film archive


sun. jun. 9

the leopard 7 PM @ ucla film archive


thu. jun. 13

smog FREE 7 PM @ getty center


sat. jun. 15

the scalphunters, castle keep @ ucla film archive


sun. jun. 16

lit show film festival FREE @ 7 dudley cinema @ beyond baroque
fuzz @ alex's bar


wed. jun. 19

all about eve 8 PM @ last remaining seats @ los angeles theatre


sat. jun. 22

office space @ electric dusk drive-in


sun. jun. 23

ulzana's raid 7 PM @ ucla film archive


mon. jun. 24

twilight's last gleaming @ ucla film archive


wed. jun. 26

ben-hur (1925) 8 PM @ last remaining seats @ orpheum


fri. jun. 28

cattle annie and little britches @ ucla film archive


sat. jun. 29

casablanca 2:00 8:00 PM @ last remaining seats @ saban theatre


sun. jun. 30

conversation piece, atlantic city @ ucla film archive


sat. jul. 6

the warlocks @ bootleg



WHAT IT IS:



ACCIDENTAL ICON: THE REAL GIDGET STORY
Narrated by Jorja Fox (“CSI”) and produced by Brian L. Gillogly and Robert Masters, ACCIDENTAL ICON explores the largely untold story of the real “Gidget,” Kathy Kohner Zuckerman. Kathy’s account of surfing Malibu in the mid-50’s became the basis for a best-selling novel by her father Frederick Kohner and the hit 1959 “Gidget” movie, which introduced the modern sport of surfing to a world-wide audience. Surf legends and present-day “surfer girls” set the stage and take the Gidget story full circle. Prominent actors and directors, many of whom brought Gidget to the big and small screen, provide an often enlightening behind-the-scenes perspective. Together with Kathy Kohner Zuckerman, they weave an entertaining and ultimately life-affirming true story of a young girl coming of age amongst the waves at Malibu’s fabled Surfrider Beach—and how a somewhat idealized version of that girl became a true American icon. Running time: 60 minutes.


ANIMATION FREAK-OUT NIGHT
Won't you join Cosmo Segurson for an evening of strange and mind bending cartoons? Root beer floats will be served up as his collection of 16mm animation prints entertains you beyond belief. From the United States and around the world, some from the Film Center's own library, these cartoons are rare and well worth your attention. Tex Avery, The Fleischer Studios, and a couple of prints that he's not sure who made, will be shown. Did we mention Root Beer Floats?


APPOINTMENT WITH A SHADOW
1957, Universal, 72 min, USA, Dir: Richard Carlson
George Nader stars in this CinemaScope noir as an alcoholic reporter who gives up liquor to go after a big story. Joanna Moore and Brian Keith costar; actor Richard Carlson steps behind the camera to direct. NOT ON DVD!


April Fools Night
RetroFormat Films on 8mm Presents: Join us on April Fools for an evening of silent comedy, featuring all the greats: Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, Sennett, Arbuckle, Normand, Laurel and Hardy - you’ll see them all, plus Gloria Swanson and Teddy, the Keystone Dog! With live piano accompaniment by Cliff Retallick. 120 min.


ARCADIA
Directed and written by Olivia Silver. Country: USA, Language: English. Runtime: 91 minutes, Year: 2012.
A coming-of-age story set in a vast, cross-country landscape, Arcadia begins when twelve-year-old Greta's dad Tom wakes her up before dawn and crams her and her two siblings into a dented station wagon. They set off on a 3,000 mile journey from the New England woods to the California desert. On the way, Tom tells enchanting stories, paints pictures of a California paradise, and assures the kids that Mom will soon join them. Greta believes him at first, mesmerized by the strange new scenery and clinging to her stuffed bunny Harrison. Older sister Caroline nonchalantly accepts his stories, more focused on the boyfriend she's leaving behind. And nine-year-old Nat, too young to suspect a thing, is eager to see the epic Grand Canyon.  But Tom's mood shifts as often as the landscape outside their window, and the kids soon find themselves in increasingly unpleasant and even dangerous situations. Mom's presence seems to recede further with every mile they travel.  Q&A to follow with director Olivia Silver.


ART21: 'Identity' & 'William Kentridge'
In the back back-to-back screenings of Art in the Twenty-First Century, the Peabody Award–winning documentary series on PBS, the question of identity creates a backdrop against which notions of portraiture, stereotypes, self-awareness, and what it means to be an artist in today's world are investigated.
The first episode, “Identity,” explores these questions through the work of artists William Wegman, Kerry James Marshall, Maya Lin, Louise Bourgeois, and Bruce Nauman (whose work For Beginners is on view at LACMA now). The second screening, "William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible," gives an in-depth look at the unique creative process behind the South African artist's work. Kentridge is known for his dynamic charcoal drawings, animations, video installations, shadow plays, mechanical puppets, tapestries, sculptures, live performance pieces, and operas.


ART21: 'Place' & 'Spirituality'
The idea of place and spirituality are central themes in the two back-to-back screenings of Art in the Twenty-First Century, the Peabody Award–winning documentary series on PBS.
The first episode, “Place,” explores the process behind contemporary artist Richard Serra’s monumental sculptures. Known for creating massive metal works, Serra redefines space, and his work requires the visitor to not only look at it but also to interact with it, walk around it, and, at times, inside of it. Serra’s sculpture Band, which is located in BCAM, is one example. Other artists featured in this episode include Laurie Anderson, Sally Mann, Barry McGee, Margaret Kilgallen, and Pepón Osorio.
The second episode, “Spirituality,” features the work of Light and Space artist James Turrell, whose retrospective opens at LACMA on May 26. Just as Serra’s sculptures redefine a space with their monumentality, Turrell’s brilliant light installations also transform space, capturing the ethereal properties of light, and create a unique sensory experience for the viewer. Other artists featured in this episode include Beryl Korot, Ann Hamilton, John Feodorov, and Shahzia Sikander.


AT ANY PRICE
In the competitive world of modern agriculture, ambitious Henry Whipple (Dennis Quaid) wants his rebellious son Dean (Zac Efron) to help expand his family's farming empire. However, Dean has his sights set on becoming a professional race car driver. When a high-stakes investigation into their business is exposed, father and son are pushed into an unexpected crisis that threatens the family's entire livelihood. Written and directed by Ramin Bahrani. 2012, 1 hr. 45 min.  Conversation to follow with writer/director Ramin Bahrani and actors Heather Graham, Maika Monroe and Dennis Quaid. Moderated by Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times film writer.


Atlantic City (1981)
Directed by Louis Malle
While the world he knew is literally being torn down around him, a two-bit gangster in his autumn years finally gets the chance to be the big man he always wanted to be when a young woman (Sarandon) puts a kick back in his step. In director Louis Malle's bittersweet, whimsical ode to an American dreamer awash in the end of the American dream, Burt Lancaster delivers a winning performance—by turns warm and heartbreaking—earning him his fourth Academy Award nomination.
Paramount Pictures Corp. Producer: Denis Heroux. Screenwriter: John Guare. Cinematographer: Richard Ciupka. Editor: Suzanne Baron. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Michel Piccoli, Hollis McLaren, Robert Joy.   35mm, color, 103 min.


Barren Lives (Vidas Secas) (Brazil, 1963)
Directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos
A foundational film of Cinema Novo, Vidas Secas follows the struggle of a migrant family for work and dignity in the midst of a devastating drought in Northeastern Brazil. As in the 1938 novel by Graciliano Ramos on which its based, Nelson Pereira dos Santos' adaptation takes up, in turn, the perspective of each family member, including the dog, to build a heart wrenching kaleidoscopic vision of grinding rural poverty, economic injustice and a harsh natural world.
Producer: Luiz Carlos Berreto. Screenwriter: Nelson Pereira dos Santos. Based on the novel by Graciliano Ramos. Cinematographer: Luiz Carlos Barreto, José Rosa. Editor: Rafael Justo. Cast: Atila Iorio, María Ribeiro, Orlando Macedo, Jofre Soares.  35mm, b/w, in Portuguese with English subtitles, 100 min. 


BAY OF ANGELS / La Baie des anges
Black & White, 85 min, France, 1963
Directed by: Jacques Demy, Written by: Jacques Demy
In this fast and pulpy semi-noir, Jean (Claude Mann) leads a quiet life as a bank clerk until his friend Caron (Paul Guers) convinces him to try his luck at the roulette tables. After winning big, Jean takes his luck on the road, somehow hoping for a lifestyle overhaul in the South of France. He soon meets Jackie, a thrill-seeking creature of the casinos played by a smoky Jeanne Moreau in full tarnished angel glory. With mutual infatuation to bond them – he with her, and she with gambling – the two escape into a private pas-de-deux of luck and love across the casinos of Nice. Jackie is convinced that Jean is her good luck charm, but as Jean’s initial windfall starts to dwindle, Jackie’s attraction to gambling’s “stupid mixture of poverty and luxury” is put to the test. While Demy lets his protagonists descend into a glamorous underworld, Michel Legrand’s cascading piano score takes us back from the precipice, and never lets us forget that the movie is, after all, a romance.
French New Wave director Agnes Varda’s recent restorations of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort were considered triumphs, and she continues to restore her late husband’s classic films with Bay of Angels. Shot in breathtakingly vivid black and white by Jean Rabier, Varda has done a beautiful job of restoring the film's crisp imagery. Restoration was made with the support of La Cinématheque Française and the Franco-American Cultural Fund. 


THE BEAVER TRILOGY
After more than two decades of being out of theatrical circulation, the legendary triptych starring Sean Penn and Crispin Glover is back on the silver screen! Art. Obsession. Olivia Newton-John. For a far-out glimpse into how all these alchemical elements collide, look no further than Beaver Trilogy. In 1979, a chance meeting between eccentric surfer dude-type “Groovin’ Gary” and Trent Harris (who worked for a local Salt Lake City TV station) resulted in The Beaver Kid, a captivating short doc about Gary’s other life as an awkward, yet impassioned Olivia-styled female impersonator. Obsessively driven to the subject matter as much as Gary was driven to “be” Olivia, Harris years later refashioned the story into two separate fiction shorts — with one crudely shot on video starring a young Sean Penn, and the other starring the inimitable Crispin Glover. Viewed as a whole, Beaver Trilogy is an experience so distinct, layered, and brazenly raw that it eludes an appropriate cinematic analogy. Dir. Trent Harris, 1979/1981/1985, digital presentation, 83 min.  Director Trent Harris will be here in person for a Q&A after the film (4/18 only).


Brute Force (1947)
Directed by Jules Dassin
Westgate Penitentiary is racked with tension as the warden sees his authority slipping into the hands of fascistic subordinates—especially sinister Hume Cronyn—and influential prisoner Charles Bickford. Burt Lancaster seethes as prisoner Joe Collins, who plots a dangerous escape that could lead to a bloody outcome. Violence, cruelty and betrayal combine in an explosive brew, leading to a confrontation between men and philosophies: whether to help, or crush the prison population.
Universal Pictures Company, Inc. Producer: Mark Hellinger. Screenwriter: Richard Brooks. Cinematographer: William Daniels. Editor: Edward Curtiss. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Hume Cronyn, Charles Bickford, Yvonne De Carlo, Ella Raines.   35mm, b/w, 98 min. 


BULLFIGHTER AND THE LADY
Director Budd Boetticher's love of bullfighting comes to the fore in this film drama, directed and co-written by Boetticher (and produced by John Wayne). Robert Stack plays the cocky American Chuck Regan, who travels to Mexico and falls in love with the sultry Anita de la Vega (Joy Page). In order to impress her with his prowess, he convinces the famed matador Manolo Estrada (Gilbert Roland) to mentor him in the art of bullfighting. But Chuck's carelessness causes the tragic death of Manolo, resulting in Chuck's being shunned by both the villagers and Anita. In order to regain Anita's love and the villagers' respect, Chuck re-enters the arena, taking on a bull in Manolo's honor. Dir. Budd Boetticher, 1 hr. 27 min., 1951.


CABINETS OF WONDER: FILMS AND A PERFORMANCE BY CHARLOTTE PRYCE
Charlotte Pryce’s exquisitely detailed and evocatively structured short films suggest an alert daydreaming in which the documented and the imagined are juxtaposed. Her films offer fleeting illuminations at the periphery of vision, calling into question the “mechanical eye” of the lens and the chemical composition of the celluloid. The films use 16mm “chrome” stocks—now-extinct reversal color—which are hand-processed and optically reprinted. “Like the items in a Cabinet of Wonder, my subjects are specimens of philosophical musing: rootless plants, mysterious insects and curious glasses,” says Pryce. The program includes Concerning Flight: Five Illuminations in Miniature, Discoveries on the Forest Floor, The Parable of the Tulip Painter and the Fly, Curious Light, Looking Glass Insects, A Study in Natural Magic, and a live magic lantern show.
In person: Charlotte Pryce


THE CASE AGAINST BROOKLYN
1958, Sony Repertory, 82 min, USA, Dir: Paul Wendkos
A rookie cop (Darren McGavin) lays it all on the line when he goes undercover to checkmate the Syndicate and police corruption in Brooklyn. This fact-based film, adapted from crime reporter Ed Reid's story, was scripted by uncredited, blacklisted scribes Bernard Gordon (under the pseudonym Raymond T. Marcus) and Julian Zimet, and contains plenty of action and noir-stained ambiguity. Co-starring Maggie Hayes, Warren Stevens, Peggy McKay, Emile Meyer and Joe Turkel. NOT ON DVD!


Castle Keep (1969)
Directed by Sydney Pollack
Sydney Pollack's adaptation of author William Eastlake's WWII satire strikes an allegorical tone in a freefloating structure that anticipates Mike Nichols' adaptation of Catch-22 (1970). In one of his most enigmatic roles, Burt Lancaster sports an eye patch as Maj. Abraham Falconer who stations his platoon in a 10th century chateau in the path of advancing German lines despite the irreplaceable art treasures housed within. While Falconer carries on an affair with with the chateau's countess, he and his men meditate on art, sex, death and Volkswagens before everything goes up in flames. 
Columbia Pictures. Producers: Martin Ransohoff, John Calley. Based on the novel by William Eastlake. Screenwriter: Daniel Taradash, David Rayfiel. Cinematographer: Henri Decaë. Editor: Malcolm Cooke. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Patrick O’Neal, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Peter Falk, Astrid Heeren. 35mm, color, 105 min. 


Cattle Annie and Little Britches (1981)
Directed by Lamont Johnson
Produced in 1979 but not released until 1981, this neglected gem of a Western is due for rediscovery. Amanda Plummer, in her screen debut, and Diane Lane play two rebellious runaways who travel West to join the Doolin-Dalton Gang, inspired by Ned Buntline's dime novel. As the aging outlaw Bill Doolin, Burt Lancaster delivers an expansive, beguiling performance as a man resigned to carrying the weight of legend into his final sunset.
Universal Pictures. Producer: Rupert Hitzig. Based on the novel by Robert Ward. Screenwriters: David Eyre, Robert Ward. Cinematographer: Larry Pizer. Editor: William Haugse. Cast: Burt Lancaster, John Savage, Rod Steiger, Diane Lane, Amanda Plummer.   35mm, color, 98 min. 


CAULEEN SMITH: BLACK UTOPIA LP (FOR SUN RA)
Premiered at Chicago’s threewalls artspace, Black Utopia LP is a deeply original off-shoot of the years of research artist and filmmaker Cauleen Smith devoted to Afrofuturism—a cultural movement that mixes science fiction, fantasy, non-Western religion and Afrocentrism. Chicago legend Sun Ra (1914–93) and his Arkestra were a key figures in this movement. Smith produced over 800 35mm slides: images of objects found in archives, recorded in contemporary Chicago or appropriated from occult, astronomical, and historical sources. The slides are projected in a 90-minute performance to the sounds of both sides of an LP Smith recorded—a collage of lectures, rehearsals and live performances by Sun Ra, mundane ephemera, as well as commissioned contributions from Chicago artists Krista Franklin and Avery R. Young.
In person: Cauleen Smith


CELLULOID MAN
India/2012/150min/DCP
Director: Shivendra Singh Dungarpur
To say that P.K. Nair is a film legend would be an understatement. A walking master of Indian film knowledge, archivist Nair is responsible for building the National Film Archive of India can by can, purely on devotion and passion alone. CELLULOID MAN, directed by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, explores the life and work of this legendary guardian of Indian cinema. He was responsible for influencing a generation of Indian filmmakers. The fact that Dadasaheb Phalke is recognized today as the father of Indian cinema is Nair’s doing.
Visually stunning, the film follows Nair's journey through personal stories and interviews with Indian cinema luminaries. As the history of Indian cinema unfolds on the screen, what emerges is a portrait of a man so in love with cinema that everything else in his life took second place, including his family. The fact that India has a cinematic heritage at all is the single-handed achievement of this man.
CELLULOID MAN is essential viewing for anyone interested in cinema and the incredibly visceral imagery harks to the feeling of falling in love with the cinema for the first time. English, Hindi, Bengali, Kannada (English Subtitles)


CHICAGO CALLING
1952, Warner Bros., 75 min, USA, Dir: John Reinhardt
An unemployed, drunken photographer (Dan Duryea) returns to his Bunker Hill apartment and is greeted by his wife and daughter who are leaving him for good. A heartbreaking odyssey transpires on the streets of downtown L.A. with a desperate Duryea, in one of his finest screen performances, attempting to save both his family and himself. Beautifully helmed by John Reinhardt with Mary Anderson, Gordon Gebert and Ross Elliott.


A Child is Waiting (1963)
"A poignant, provocative, revealing dramatization" — Variety 
"One should learn a great deal from this picture -- all of which should be helpful and give hope." — New York Times 
A flourish of inventive casting pairs stolid Burt Lancaster with fragile Judy Garland in director John Cassavetes' penetrating drama. Psychologist Matthew Clark (Lancaster) runs a boarding school for developmentally challenged children, where music teacher Jean Hansen (Garland) becomes emotionally involved with a particular young boy. Their push and pull over what will best serve the child, and the school's mission, fuels an intelligent and heartrending story of good and honorable intentions.
United Artists. Producer: Stanley Kramer. Based on the novel by Abby Mann. Screenwriter: Abby Mann. Cinematographer: Joseph LaShelle. Editor: Gene Fowler Jr. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Judy Garland, Gena Rowlands, Steven Hill.  35mm, b/w, 104 min. Directed by John Cassavetes.


CHINESE TAKE-AWAY
Curmudgeon Roberto (Ricardo Darin from THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES) is shaken out of his solitary daily routine of collecting absurd newspaper clippings and visiting his parents’ grave when Chinese immigrant Jun (Huang Sheng Huang) literally falls into his life out of the back of a cab. Through a series of events that go against Roberto’s better judgment, the out-of-work Jun moves in with him, which proves a nightmare for Roberto as he makes increasingly desperate (and hilarious) attempts to get rid of his new roommate. Sebastian Borensztein’s warm, endearing third feature offers a heartfelt and funny reminder that friendship can crop up between the most strange, mismatched and plain old grumpy of odd couples. With Muriel Santa Anna. Running time: 93 minutes. In Spanish, with English subtitles.  Written and Directed by Sebastián Borensztein. Produced by Pablo Bossi, Juan Pablo Buscarini, Gerardo Herrero, Axel Kuschevatzky, and Ben Odell.


CITY ACROSS THE RIVER
1949, Universal, 90 min, USA, Dir: Maxwell Shane
Perhaps Hollywood's earliest treatment of urban youth gangs and juvenile delinquency, with the Amboy Dukes (a young Tony Curtis, Mickey Knox, Richard Jaeckel, Al Ramsen and Joshua Kelley) pitted against a cast-against-type Stephen McNally as a crusading community-center leader in Brooklyn. With the great Thelma Ritter, Jeff Corey, Richard Benedict and Anabel Shaw. This forerunner of better-remembered films including REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE is very rarely screened. NOT ON DVD!


THE CLOCK
LACMA presents another special twenty-four-hour screening of Christian Marclay's The Clock beginning Saturday, September 22, at noon and ending at noon on Sunday, September 23. The Clock is a twenty-four-hour single-channel montage constructed from thousands of moments of cinema and television history depicting the passage of time. Marclay has excerpted each of these moments from their original contexts and edited them together to create a functioning timepiece synchronized to local time wherever it is viewed - marking the exact time in real time for the viewer for twenty-four consecutive hours. The sampled clips come from films of all genres, time periods, and cultures, some lasting only seconds, others minutes, and have been culled from hundreds of films, famous and obscure, into a seamless whole. The result, a melding of video and reality, unfolds with a seemingly endless cast of cameos. By making the film available in its entirety, this free screening will allow The Clock to be viewed in the way Marclay intended.


Come Back, Little Sheba (1953)
Directed by Daniel Mann
Daniel Mann's stirring feature stars Burt Lancaster as "Doc" Delaney, a recovering alcoholic, whose marriage (to Shirley Booth's "Lola") has been drained of love and hope. When the pair accepts a young female boarder in their house, the newcomer's vivacity instigates emotional upsets that lead to a cataclysmic outcome. Lancaster turns in a bravura performance as a man haunted by his past and by the spectacle of others' happiness.
Paramount Pictures Corp. Producer: Hal B. Wallis. Based on the play by William Inge. Screenwriter: Ketti Frings. Cinematographer: James Wong Howe. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Shirley Booth, Terry Moore, Richard Jaeckel, Philip Ober. 16mm, b/w, 99 min.


CONSUMING SPIRITS
Painstakingly created over the course of the last fifteen years, Chris Sullivan’s debut animated feature is an absolute marvel to behold. Employing multiplane cut-outs, drawings on paper and stop motion (all shot on 16mm), Sullivan weaves a psychologically dense chronicle of a crumbling Rust Belt town, and the intermingled lives of three lonely souls who work at its local newspaper. Unfolding like a vision quest from the mind of a memory-haunted insomniac, it tenderly navigates its ugly characters down twisted paths upon which their pasts, fears, and longings converge. This is a totally singular and eerie landscape, dotted with ghost-ridden farmhouses, midnight car accidents, late night radio broadcasts and the world’s oldest cat. Painted with frequent strokes of unexpected humor and rendered with a beautifully rough hewn craft emphasizing its characters’ fragility, it emerges as a quiet feature-length epic unlike anything you’ve ever seen: adult, complex and brimming with the irrepressible spirit of American independent filmmaking. Dir. Chris Sullivan, 2012, digital presentation, 136 min.


Conversation Piece (Gruppo di famiglia in un interno) (Italy/France, 1974)
Directed by Luchino Visconti
An underappreciated masterpiece from the mature Luchino Visconti, Conversation Piece stars Burt Lancaster as a retired art historian settling into a life of virtual seclusion in a picturesque Roman palazzo. His self-imposed solitude, however, is swiftly disrupted by the intrusion of unruly new neighbors—namely Silvana Mangano, as an imperious upper-crust matron, and Visconti mainstay Helmut Berger, glamorously sullen as the conflicted left-wing lover Mangano installs in the apartment above Lancaster's.
Screenwriters: L. Visconti, Suso Cecchi D'Amico, Enrico Medioli. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Helmut Berger, Claudia Marsani, Silvana Mangano. 35mm, color, in Italian with English subtitles, 126 min


The Crimson Pirate (1952)
Directed by Robert Siodmak
This rip-roaring swashbuckler opens with a barechested Burt Lancaster, beaming high in the rigging, inviting all you "lads and lasses" to join in the fun to follow. Lancaster's winking charm announces Crimson's loving spoof of the Fairbanks/Flynn adventure tradition—and anticipates Gore Verbinski's take on same—but what follows doesn't skimp on action, either. Lancaster displays a dazzling athleticism as the roguish Captain Vallo, in league with a band of island rebels against the British for justice and love.  Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. Producer: Harold Hecht. Screenwriter: Roland Kibbee. Cinematographer: Otto Heller. Editor: Jack Harris. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Nick Cravat, Eva Bartok, Torin Thatcher, James Hayter.  35mm, color, 105 min.


Criss Cross (1949)
Directed by Robert Siodmak
A brooding narrative of betrayal and obsession set in the seedy nightclubs and back alleys of post-war downtown Los Angeles, Criss Cross stars Burt Lancaster as an armored car guard duped into committing a brazen heist in an ill-fated attempt to win back his duplicitous ex-wife (De Carlo) from her gangster husband (Duryea). Directed with atmospheric suspense by Robert Siodmak.
Universal Pictures Company, Inc. Producer: Michel Kraike. Based on the novel by Don Tracy. Screenwriter: Daniel Fuchs. Cinematographer: Frank Planer. Editor: Ted J. Kent. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo, Dan Duryea, Stephen McNally, Esy Morales.  35mm, b/w, 88 min.


CRY OF THE CITY
1948, 20th Century Fox, 95 min, USA, Dir: Robert Siodmak
Perhaps the best realized of director Robert Siodmak’s films noir indelibly relates the enduring theme (based on Henry Helseth’s novel The Chair for Martin Rome) of neighborhood pals who tread divergent courses. Victor Mature becomes a lawman, Richard Conte goes crooked. The two square off all across Manhattan with tragic results. Siodmak eschewed the semi-documentary style then in vogue at Fox creating instead a vivid, Expressionistic urban landscape that ideally suited this mythic mid-20th-century tale of good and evil. Co-starring Shelley Winters, Fred Clark and that Amazonian nightmare, Hope Emerson.


CUCHILLO DE PALO (108)
Directed by Renate Costa. Country: Spain, Language: Spanish. Runtime: 93 minutes, Year: 2010.
When Rodolfo Costa was found naked on the floor of his home in Paraguay, he had been dead for days. Though ostensibly jobless, he had mysteriously amassed a small fortune. He also had a secret alias—Héctor Torres—and a secret life.
At the time, Renate Costa Perdomo was a young girl. Asked to select her uncle's burial garb, she found his closet empty. Surely the lively, colorfully-dressed Rodolfo she knew could not, as those around her claimed, have died of sadness.
In her powerful debut documentary, which unfolds like a mystery novel, Costa Perdomo investigates the shadowy circumstances of Rodolfo's death. Witnesses and clues gently reveal Rodolfo's true identity as a persecuted gay man and the terrifying "108" homosexual blacklists that ruined lives, careers, and families. The film is also a fascinating portrait of the relationship between the filmmaker, who has left Paraguay and now lives in Spain, and her now-divorced father, Pedro Costa, who remains in the family blacksmithing shop. 108 is a moving illustration of the impact that the right-wing dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled Paraguay from 1954 to 1989, had on the so-called "108"s living in the country as experienced by a single Paraguayan gay man and his family.


THE DARK
At night the Mangler stalks the streets of Los Angeles, killing and mutilating random victims. On the trail are a TV reporter, the father of one of the victims, and a police detective, but despite their efforts only the mysterious psychic DeRenzy knows what the killer is and how to stop it.  1979, USA, 35mm, 92 minutes. directed by John "Bud" Cardos; produced by Igo Kantor; starring William Devane, Cathy Lee Crosby, Richard Jaeckel, Keenan Wynn, Warren J. Kemmerling, Biff Elliot, Jacquelyn Hyde, Casey Kasem


Downpour (Ragbar) (1972)
Directed by Bahram Beyzaie.
Bahram Beyzaie’s debut feature about a well-meaning schoolteacher in Tehran who's embattled by changes of fortune, was enormously successful in its time, but had fallen out of view in post-revolutionary Iran. This screening presents the film as restored in 2011 by the World Cinema Foundation at Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna/L’immagine Ritrovata laboratory, with the involvement of Bahram Beyzaie himself.
Screenwriter: Bahram Beyzaie. Cast: Parviz Fannizadeh, Parvaneh Masumi, Manuchehr Farid. DigiBeta, b/w, in Persian with English subtitles, 120 min. In-person:  director Bahram Beyzaie. 


DRUNKEN ANGEL
Takashi Shimura plays a doctor who tries to bring about the spiritual and physical recovery of the human debris who live in the ashes of a poor quarter of Tokyo immediately after the war. Toshiro Mifune is an uprooted petty gambler and black-marketeer committed to life outside the law. "Akira Kurosawa's first critical success is an odd blend of American film noir and Italian neorealism" (Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader). In Japanese with English subtitles. (1948, Akira Kurosawa, 102 minutes, 35mm)


EEGA
India/2012/134min/DCP
Director: S.S. Rajamouli
Part star-crossed romance, part action-packed thriller, EEGA tells the story of Nani, a handsome young man who has been in love with his neighbor, the beautiful and coy Samantha, for two years. When Samantha returns Nani’s love and ignores Sudeep, the notorious womanizer, Sudeep takes revenge by murdering Nani. But Sudeep underestimates the power of true love when Nani becomes reincarnated as a housefly, and resolves against all odds to kill Sudeep and win back Samantha’s heart. Nani is as lovable and charming as a miniscule pest as he was as a man, taking on unforeseen adventures in his new identity, including the dangers of drowning, flicking, and even the dreaded insecticide. It’s a tale of love, rebirth, and revenge, with dazzling special effects and wildly entertaining action sequences. Using humor and a delightful cast, EEGA flies into our hearts and proves that with true love, even the most unlikely of heroes can conquer any adversity, no matter how large - or in this case, how small. Telugu (English Subtitles)


EL CHICO QUE MIENTE (THE KID WHO LIES)
A 13-year old kid leaves his home and starts a journey along the Venezuelan coast. In order to survive, he captivates people by telling them anecdotes from the Mudslide Tragedy. Sometimes he is rescued by his mother, who sacrifices herself to save him; some other times it’s his father who dies. These stories, however, reveal some of the truth, and his past becomes clearer.
Ten years ago, a mudslide tore his world apart. Many disappeared, his mother among them. Now the memories, carefully threaded by his father, contradict each other and push him to search for his own story.
He has a difficult road ahead of him, where he will also find his own universe of affections and feelings. While crossing the desert, the kid doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but the crack in his soul is starting to heal. Provided courtesy of Sudaca Films. Not rated. Running time: 100 minutes. In Spanish, with English subtitles.  Directed and Edited by Marité Ugas. Written by Marité Ugas and Mariana Rondón. Produced by Mariana Rondón


THE ELEGAIC VISIONS OF PHIL SOLOMON
Since 1975, Phil Solomon has been making films that magically penetrate the surface of images and reveal depths of new poetic meaning. Solomon’s 16mm films imbue prerecorded imagery with fantastical sensual and dimensional qualities. His recent work extends these concerns into the digital realm, creating haunting landscapes that reawaken the mysteries of life and death, and of physical reality and alternative states. Solomon presents two masterful films, What's Out Tonight is Lost (1983) and Psalm I: “The Lateness of the Hour” (1999), and four digital works, Innocence and Despair (2002), his tribute to 9/11, and In Memoriam (2005–09), a trilogy in memory of filmmaker Mark LaPore that mystically transforms backgrounds from the video game series Grand Theft Auto.
In person: Phil Solomon


EXPERIENCES IN TRANSFORMATIVE TIME: NEW WORK BY LEIGHTON PIERCE
Leighton Pierce’s cinema transforms ordinary sounds and visual impressions into ecstatic experiences filled with new kinds of movements and sensory rediscoveries of the world. Often hovering between definition and abstraction, and between gestural implication and narrative meaning, his musical eye and ear find beauty and magic in everyday places and situations. Pierce’s work has been shown widely at festivals and museums, and this screening features two early 16mm films along with nine recent digital pieces, including Viscera, described by filmmaker Jon Jost as “an astonishing piece on the recreation of a presence through remnants of their being, memories of their gestures, as molded in the impressionistic contours of light. A film built upon cascading refractions. The film dissolves in the memory as one watches it…”
In person: Leighton Pierce


A FEW HOURS OF SPRING / Quelques heures de printemps
108 min, France, 2012
Directed by: Stéphane Brizé, Written by: Stéphane Brizé, Florence Vignon
Following the success of Mademoiselle Chambon, actor Vincent Lindon and filmmaker Stéphane Brizé reunite for another examination of no-frills working class people. This time, Lindon puts in a powerful performance as Alain, a former truck driver coming off 18 months of jail for small time drug smuggling. Broke and broken, his best option is to regroup back at home with his surly, aging mother Yvette (Vincent). Once installed, the two can’t help but revert to their old roles, he the resentful, emotionally unavailable slob, and she the controlling, meticulous mother. Alain struggles to redeem himself with a budding romance with Clémence (Seigner), but back at the house, only Yvette’s dog is able to mediate the icy antagonism. An unexpected turn forces mother and son forever out of their old ways. Muted colors and a spare score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis reinforce this stark, profound drama.
Citing the Dardenne brothers, Ken Loach and Lars Von Trier as his influences, writer/director Stéphane Brizé makes films exploring emotionally charged situations experienced by emotionally inarticulate characters. 


FILMS FROM THE RED SEA INSTITUTE OF CINEMATIC ARTS
RSICA was founded by his Majesty King Abdullah of Jordan. His grandfather, the first King Abdullah, had written a letter to the American people in 1947, which said, among other things, that the Arabs don’t know how to use the tools of propaganda. His grandson, a film buff who’d made friends with Steven Spielberg while flying him to scout Petra for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, wanted to remedy that. When he became King, he called Steven, who connected him with Elizabeth Daley, the Dean of USC. After four years of USC workshops, RSICA opened its doors in 2008 to 25 MFA candidates from Kuwait, Egypt, Iran, Palestine, Lebanon, and Jordan. Everyone was on full scholarship. Later students would come from the Emirates, Kuwait, Morocco, Syria, Libya, Yemen and Iraq. Our goal was to give them the tools and ask them, “Who will tell your stories?” They worked seven days a week with no time off to see their family, in a culture where family concerns trump everything. We will watch a variety of films and talk about the kind of story telling that comes out of a region which has been at war for over half a century, from people who know that their every movement may be watched by the Mukhabarat, and who are beginning to feel an awakening similar to America in the late fifties.


THE FIRE WITHIN / Le Feu Follet
108 min, France, 1963
Directed by: Louis Malle, Written by: Louis Malle
The Fire Within reunites Elevator to the Gallows stars Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet, and filmmaking giant Louis Malle. Ronet shines powerfully as the existentially drifting Alain Leroy, a role that Malle indentified with so closely, he had Ronet adopt his own dress and mannerisms. Malle’s incisive meditation on profound ennui was not initially released in the U.S. and perhaps for that reason has never found the recognition it deserves. The Fire Within came early in a long career. His risqué The Lovers (1958) brought French cinema onto the international stage. Later Malle moved to America where he would film his masterpiece Atlantic City (1980) and the highly influential independent film My Dinner With André (1981) in rapid succession. 


Follow Me Down
Follow Me Down explores the remarkable impact of music in Louisiana prisons. Filmed in three prisons over the course of two years, Georgetown University ethnomusicologist Ben Harbert weaves together portraits of extraordinary inmate musicians—some serving life sentences, some new commits, and one soon to be released. With unprecedented access, this unique investigation exemplifies music as a powerful tool in struggles with alienation, criminal justice, community, race, gender, privacy, and manipulation, ultimately revealing the humanity in us all. (103 min., color, HD) A Q&A with filmmaker Ben Harbert will follow the screening.


FRANCES HA
Frances (Greta Gerwig) lives in New York, but she doesn't really have an apartment. Frances is an apprentice for a dance company, but she's not really a dancer. Frances has a best friend named Sophie, but they aren't really speaking anymore. Frances throws herself headlong into her dreams, even as their possible reality dwindles. Frances wants so much more than she has, but lives her life with unaccountable joy and lightness. FRANCES HA is a modern comic fable in which Noah Baumbach explores New York, friendship, class, ambition, failure, and redemption. Running time: 86 minutes.  Directed by Noah Baumbach. Written by Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig. Produced by Noah Baumbach, Scott Rudin, Rodrigo Teixeira, and Lila Yacoub


FUTURES MARKET
"A compelling meditation on dreams that doubles as an expose of how cheap those dreams have become, Futures Market is a wise and fulfilling film that bears lofty comparison with the work of Spanish maestro helmers Victor Erice and Jose Luis Guerin." — Variety
Directed by Mercedes Álvarez. This timely documentary illuminates the consequences of modern global commerce and its neutralizing impact on local cultures, topographies and histories in modern Spain. Filmmaker Mercedes Álvarez artfully presents settings in which high-rolling financial decisions effectively erase homes, neighborhoods and cityscapes. State fairs, leadership conferences, investment societies and flea markets take on a ghostly new reality in this sharply observed essay film. DigiBeta, color, 110 min.


GANGS OF WASSEYPUR
India/2012/160min/DCP
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Epic in scope, GANGS OF WASSEYPUR chronicles the deep vengeance between two warring families, spanning three generations. Set in Wasseypur, India during the tumultuous times of the nation’s independence and industrialization, GANGS OF WASSEYPUR is a powerful and gritty portrayal of family, honor, and revenge. Shahid Khan, a disguised bandit, loots trains until one day his cover is blown and he’s banished to a life of hard labor in the coal mines. Shahid’s son, Sardar Khan, vows to restore his father’s honor against Ramadir Sing, the man responsible for his father’s fate. With this vow, Sardar becomes the most feared man in Wasseypur. The dueling families live in a state of unquestionable hatred, but it is not until Fazal Khan, the youngest grandson, that this oddly harmonious feudal war is stirred up in a different way. Director Anurag Kashyap’s unique voice and directing vision guide the story with a fine balance of wicked humor and unabashed violence.
GANGS OF WASSEYPUR made its world premiere in the 2012 Cannes' Directors Fortnight, to rave reviews. Kashyap’s work is quickly becoming recognized worldwide and is one of the most important voices of Indian cinema today. With his distinctively urban and urbane visual cinema, he has developed this sub-genre to perfection. Redefining the idioms of Bollywood, both in terms of visual style and bold content, GANGS OF WASSEYPUR points to an exciting new direction for Indian cinema. Its Peckinpah-style violence, uncompromising handling of real issues, and depiction of the cynical politics of the times, makes for gripping viewing. GANGS OF WASSEYPUR I and II are not to be missed. Hindi (English subtitles)


GILBERT HERNANDEZ: FROM FUNNYBOOKS TO GRAPHIC NOVELS
Join beloved cartoonist Gilbert Hernandez (LOVE & ROCKETS) as he launches his new D+Q graphic novel MARBLE SEASON, his first semiautobiographical story of his childhood. Hernandez will present a fascinating slide show “From Funnybooks to Graphic Novels” featuring the comics of his childhood, in addition to a Q+A and signing.  These silver age comics not only influenced MARBLE SEASON, but also set the course for Gilbert, as well as his brothers Jaime and Mario, to become the legendary comics creator they are today.


Gold Mouth (Boca de Ouro) (Brazil, 1963)
Directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos
The story of a notorious murder, assumed to be the work of Rio's most infamous gangster, Boca de Ouro, is recounted Rashomon-style by the gangster's girlfriend to a journalist writing the crime lord's obituary. Based on a novel by a reactionary author, "Boca de Ouro" was a commercial assignment that the leftist Nelson Pereira dos Santos nevertheless adapted into a pulpy expression of populist urban mythology.
Herbert Richers Produções Cinematográficas. Producers: Jarbas Barbose, Gilberto Perrone. Screenwriter: Nelson Pereira dos Santos. Cinematographers: Amleto Diassé, Jose Rosé. Editor: Rafael Justo Valverde. Cast: Jece Valadão, Odete Lara, Ivan Cândido, Daniel Filho, Maria Lúcia Monteiro.
35mm, b/w, in Portuguese with English subtitles, 100 min.


GRACELAND
Directed by Ron Morales. Country: Phillipines, Language: Tagalog. Runtime: 84 minutes, Year: 2012.
In this unpredictable and tightly-paced thriller, family man Marlon Villar — a longtime chauffeur to corrupt Filipino politician Manuel Chango — is faced with an unthinkable predicament when he is ambushed while driving both his boss’s and his own daughter home from school one afternoon. In the chaos of the kidnapping attempt, things go horribly awry and Marlon’s daughter is taken and held for ransom instead. Desperate to save his daughter, Marlon must navigate the conflicting motives between the ruthless kidnappers, untrustworthy Chango and determined detectives eager to name him a suspect without letting on the wrong girl was taken hostage. As events spin wildly out of control, Marlon, Chango and their families are forced into a rapid downward spiral of deceit and betrayal that will leave no one innocent. Q&A to follow with director Ron Morales.


GUILTY BYSTANDER
1950, BFI, 91 min, USA, Dir: Joseph Lerner
Alcoholic ex-cop Max Thursday (Zachary Scott) lives a dingy existence as house detective for a run-down hotel. When his ex-wife shows up and tells him that his son has been kidnapped, it’s just what Thursday needs to spring into action and reclaim his old enthusiasm.


Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
Directed by John Sturges
Director John Sturges' classic Vistavision take on the legendary gunfight in Tombstone, AZ was the second big screen pairing for Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas and it solidified the chemistry the two would share in films to come. As the stolid Wyatt Earp, Lancaster emanates a quiet power matched by the wilder, chaotic energies of Douglas' Doc Holliday. A fantastic supporting cast, including Rhonda Fleming, Jo Van Vleet and a young Dennis Hopper round out the action.
Paramount Pictures Corp. Producer: Hal B. Wallis. Screenwriter: Leon Uris. Cinematographer: Charles B. Lang Jr. Editor: Warren Low. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming, Jo Van Fleet, John Ireland.  35mm color, 122 min. 


Gypsy (Cigan) (Czech Republic/Slovakia, 2011)
Directed by Martin Sulik
When his father is killed and his loan-shark uncle becomes head of the family, a Roma boy is caught between two worlds—he navigates poverty and prejudice as he struggles to support his family, while resisting his uncle's criminal activities and embittered attitudes toward non-Roma. Shot on location, evocative hillside landscapes and touches of magic realism balance this astutely realist drama.
In Film Praha. Producer: Rudolf Biermann. Screenwriters: Marek Lescak, Martin Sulik. Cinematographer: Martin Sec. Editor: Jiri Brozek. Cast: Janko Mizigar, Miroslav Gulyas, Martina Kotlarova, Attila Mokos, Martin Hangurbadzo. 35mm, color, in Roma and Slovak with English subtitles, 100 min. 


HELL DRIVERS
1957, Park Circus, 101 min, UK, Dir: Cy Endfield
An ex-con (Stanley Baker) trying to go straight takes a job driving for a corrupt trucking company, where the bosses pit the drivers against each other in a dangerous competition that leads to higher profits and ... death! Peggy Cummins is the saucy secretary who flirts her way through an array of up-and-coming stars. A gear-grinding masterpiece!


HE WALKED BY NIGHT
1948, Park Circus/MGM, 79 min, USA, Dir: Alfred L. Werker
In this landmark noir, a psychotic loner (Richard Basehart) uses his genius for electronics to commit robberies while evading the police. When he graduates to murder, L.A.’s finest, including tough Scott Brady and methodical Jack Webb (who was immediately inspired to create "Dragnet"), pull out a few modern techniques of their own. The cops launch an all-out manhunt to snare the clever crook, tracking him through - and beneath - cityscapes stunningly photographed by the greatest of all noir cinematographers, John Alton. Directed by Alfred L. Werker (SHOCK), with uncredited assistance from Anthony Mann (RAW DEAL, T-MEN). Don’t miss this classic in all of its 35mm glory! "Basehart is excellent as the strange, lone wolf electronics expert/killer, an enigmatic threat haunting the paranoid dreams of the witch-hunting era." - Time Out (London)


HIGH TIDE
1947, Film Noir Foundation, 74 min, USA, Dir: John Reinhardt
A crusading newspaper editor (Lee Tracy) gets more than he bargained for when he hires a private dick (Don Castle) to protect him from riled-up gangsters. Set in locations all over Los Angeles, this film is as witty and moody as any B-noir of the era. NOT ON DVD!


HOUSE
A delirious pop-horror fantasy from one of Japan’s foremost cult filmmakers, House could be the most legendary horror film you’ve never seen. Former experimental filmmaker Nobuhiko Obayashi twists ghost story expectations inside-out by utilizing a multi-colored candy-coated visual style that pulls equally from TV commercials, soap operas and the avant-garde. The plot, such as it is, follows Oshare (Kimiko Ikegami) and six schoolgirls as they take an ill-advised summer trip to visit her spinster aunt. Obayashi uses the thin story to cram in as many dazzling experimental effects as the human retina can absorb. Humans turn into piles of bananas, pianos devour their players, animated demons spew blood and appendages — House is a gleeful melee that smashes genres together with more force than the Hadron Collider! Dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1977, 35mm, 88 min. Followed by a Q&A with Nobuhiko Obayashi, and a House-themed shindig (5/8 screening only).


HOUSE BY THE RIVER
1950, Kino Lorber, 88 min, USA, Dir: Fritz Lang
Struggling novelist Stephen Byrne (Louis Hayward) makes a play for his maid, and when she resists he impulsively murders her. Thus begins the web of evil that Byrne spins, drawing in his wife (Jane Wyatt) and brother (Lee Bowman) as his crimes pile up. Director Fritz Lang pours on the atmosphere in this eerie melodrama.


How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman (Como era gostoso o meu francês) (Brazil, 1972)
Directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Nelson Pereira Dos Santos' masterful, ironic critique of colonialist discourse, past and present, draws from multiple historical sources—especially German explorer Hans Staden's 1557 memoir—to tell the story of a French soldier's experience as a captive of the cannibalistic Tupinambá tribe. Initiated into the tribe, the soldier looks for ways to exploit the tribe's resources even as they prepare him to be the main course in a ritual feast.
Condor Films. Producers: Nelson Pereira dos Santos, K.M. Eckstein, Cesar Thédim. Screenwriter: Nelson Pereira dos Santos. Cinematographer: Dib Lutfi. Editor: Carlos Alberto Camuyrano. Cast: Arduíno Colassanti, Ana Maria Magalhães, Eduardo Imbassahy, Manfredo Colassanti.
35mm; color; in Tupi, French and Portuguese with English subtitles; 84 min.


I CONFESS
1953, Warner Bros., 95 min, USA, Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Montgomery Clift plays a priest who undergoes a crisis of faith when he hears a murderer's confession; as the film progresses, he takes on the man's guilt as his own, both literally (as police wrongly suspect him of the murder) and psychologically. The French critics of the 1950s considered this to be one of Hitchcock's major works, and it remains among his most underrated masterpieces.


I DRINK YOUR BLOOD
The top half of a legendary drive-in double bill, paired by distributor Jerry Gross with the re-titled 1964 clunker I Eat Your Skin (formerly Voodoo Blood Bath), this outrageously gory film involves the escapades of a group of devil-worshipping hippies looking for kicks in a small rural town. To this end, they manage to slip a few tabs of LSD to an elderly man -- triggering a fatal freak-out -- and the man's teenage grandson exacts a vicious revenge by selling the hippies meat pies injected with the blood of a rabid dog. Before long, the infected kids are leaping at each other's throats in a cannibal feeding frenzy, spreading the disease like wildfire through the small community. Blood and body parts fly in all directions until nearly the entire cast has been devoured -- with the exception of one young woman who carries the contagion to the rest of the world, beginning with a pair of unsuspecting construction workers. Aside from the aforementioned double-billing, this intense, well-made exploitation item is also notorious for being one of the first to receive an "X" from the MPAA solely for its graphic violence.  Dir. David E. Durston, 1970, 35mm, 90 min.


INEXPLICABLE LOS ANGELES: GHOSTS AND TRACES, 1940-1990
Join us for a panel discussion with distinguished thinkers and writers about Los Angeles as we ponder the astonishing Southern California Edison archive of 70,000 images devoted to the expansion of electrification in the Los Angeles basin. This event showcases a new online exhibition about landscape and form in Los Angeles, which is part of The Getty's new initiative Pacific Standard Time Presents, an exploration of the rise of modern architecture in Los Angeles, 1940-1990.
This evening's discussion and slide show features images and narratives drawn from the Edison archive at The Huntington Library. Our panelists include writer D.J. Waldie, USC University Professor Leo Braudy, USC history professors Bill Deverell and Philip Ethington, independent curator Claudia Bohn Spector, and filmmaker Josh Oreck.


INFERNO
1953, 20th Century Fox, 83 min, USA, Dir: Roy Ward Baker
It’s the essential film noir plot: Illicit lovers hatch a “foolproof” scheme to bump off the woman’s rich, domineering husband. But what if the husband, left for dead in the scorching desert, doesn’t die? What if that husband, crippled but hell-bent on revenge, is played by the indomitable Robert Ryan? Watch as unmerciful nature takes on unbreakable man in amazing 3-D and stereophonic sound! Toss in titantic, titian-tressed Rhonda Fleming as the deceitful, voluptuous vixen, and you’ve got perhaps the best 3-D movie of the original Hollywood stereo-optic craze!


IN THE HOUSE / Dans la maison
France, 2012
Directed by: François Ozon, Written by: François Ozon
Cast: Fabrice Luchini (Germain), Ernst Umhauer (Claude), Kristin Scott Thomas (Jeanne), Emmanuelle Seigner (Esther)
François Ozon is at the top of his game in this unsettling thriller that turns a white bread middle class home into a seductive hall of mirrors. Germain (Luchini, in his best deadpan) is a middling 50-ish secondary school teacher with a marriage that can barely break a simmer. Then Claude, a seemingly shy, unassuming student, turns in a writing assignment that revives Germain’s passions. Germain is spellbound by Claude’s suggestive descriptions of his neighbor’s family, whom he has befriended on false pretenses. Perhaps determined to develop Claude’s talent, perhaps merely titillated by voyeuristic descriptions of the family’s bored but hot housewife (Seigner), Germain pushes Claude to infiltrate the family with ever more extreme behavior in order to get his story. As Claude and Germain seem to enter into an unspoken Faustian pact, Germain begins to “edit” Claude’s work, and we are treated to his version of events in the house – a more lurid tale of suppressed sexuality. But we are left to wonder who is selling whose soul?
Writer/director François Ozon has made 13 features. He is best known for 8 Femmes (2002), a kitschy musical/whodunit and Swimming Pool (2003) a brooding psychological thriller. Like most of his films, they are noted for their superbly realized female characters, subversive and satirical observations of middle-class values, and a stark portrayal of sexuality and psychological dysfunction.


In the Shadow (Ve stinu) (Czech Republic/Slovakia/Poland/Israel, 2012)
Directed by David Ondricek
During the consolidation of Soviet power in 1950s Czechoslovakia, a cracked safe and stolen cash lead an honest police inspector into a dangerous web of corruption in the State Security bureau—even as his reckless pursuit of the truth alienates and endangers his family. Rain and power blackouts contribute to a taut atmosphere in this neo-noir police thriller.
Bleiberg Entertainment. Producers: David Ondricek, Krystof Mucha, Ehud Bleiberg. Screenwriters: Marek Epstein, D. Ondricek, Misha Votruba. Cinematographer: Adam Sikora. Editor: Michal Lansky. Cast: Ivan Trojan, David Svehlík, Sona Norisova, Sebastian Koch, Marek Taclik, Jiri Stepnicka. HDCam, color, in Czech and German with English subtitles, 106 min. In-person:  director David Ondricek.


IT’S A GIFT
1934, Universal, 73 min, USA, Dir: Norman Z. McLeod
Considered by some to be the Great Man’s greatest film, this short, sweet W.C. Fields vehicle is little more than a series of zany sketches loosely tied to his desire to move to California and grow oranges. Includes the legendary "Mr. Muckle" and "Carl LaFong" scenes, as well as the hanging mirror and sleeping porch routines. Jean Rouverol, who co-wrote THE FIRST TIME, plays Fields’ daughter.


I Walk Alone (1948)
Directed by Byron Haskin
In their first screen appearance together, Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas square off as former Prohibition-era rum-running partners at odds over the spoils of their enterprise. Returning after 14 years in prison, tough guy Frankie Madison (Lancaster) is out for vengeance when he finds his former partner, the unctuously scheming Dink Turner (Douglas), running a successful nightclub and reluctant to give Frankie his due.
Paramount Pictures, Inc. Based on the play by Theodore Reeves. Screenwriter: Charles Schnee. Cinematographer: Leo Tover. Editor: Arthur Schmidt. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas, Wendell Corey, Kristine Miller. 16mm, b/w, 97 min.


JANIS CRYSTAL LIPZIN & ALEE PEOPLES
This program brings together two artists whose works draw upon and play with the conventions of documentary, ethnographic, reportage, and other forms of fact-based filmmaking. Bay Area-based Janis Crystal Lipzin will screen Cracks Between the Stones, which asks viewers to reconsider expert speculation about past history, combining imagery of ancient and contemporary architectural sites with sound constructed from a variety of sources, ranging from Navajo radio broadcasts to a slide lecture delivered by a Park Ranger at Mesa Verde National Park. Her film Other Reckless Things was made in response to a newspaper account of a self-inflicted Caesarian section performed with a penknife, and looks at the hospital birth of twin babies of a personal friend of the artist, accompanied by a soundtrack composed and performed by Ellen Zweig. Lipzin will also show The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, and her recent Micro-celluloid Incidents in Four Santas. Los Angeles-based Alee Peoples will show Lonelyville and The Root That Ate Roger Williams, both exploring the influence of the past on the present in Providence, RI. Lonelyville centers on a walking tour narrating the local effects of the recent real estate market crash, while The Root That Ate Roger Williams is a dual documentary of what happened to the remains of Providence’s founder and champion of free religion as well as a club based on the actual folklore of the root. Peoples will also show Boys of Summer and a brand new print of her recent Them Oracles. Lipzin and Peoples both in person!


JEAN-GABRIEL PERIOT
“Jean-Gabriel Périot, born in France in 1974, has over the past fifteen years perfected an innovative filmmaking approach by focusing on archival editing. Moving image and photographic archives make up the raw material of his shorts, which are edited to create an impressionistic story or narrative, typically aided by compelling soundtracks. Periot’s work is distinguished for its intense, emotional approach to contemporary and historic political themes. Despite the labor intensive process of compiling a film via multiple edited images, Périot has made numerous short films using digital video and/or film that reside within combined documentary/essay, animation, and experimental genres. His works have been honored with many prizes and shown worldwide in numerous festivals, institutions, and cinemas. This event is Périot’s first travel to the US.” –Sally Berger, Department of Film, MoMA. This event is organized by Amélie Garin-Davet and Steve Holmgren, and is presented with support from UnionDocs and The Cultural Services of the French Embassy. Special Thanks to VTape, film Re-distribution, Heure Exquise, Light Cone, Envie de Tempête, Local Films and Sacrebleu Production. Jean-Gabriel Périot in person!


Jellyfish Eyes
2013/color/100 min./HD
Scr: Jun Tsugita; dir Takashi Murakami; w/ Takuto Sueoka, Himeka Asami, Shota Sometani, Kanji Tsuda, Mayu Tsuruta, Takumi Saitoh
In his feature filmmaking debut, renowned visual artist Takashi Murakami transforms the classic cinematic trope of the new kid on the block into an epic genre-defying adventure. Having recently lost his father, young Masashi moves with his mother to a small city in the Japanese countryside. But when he discovers that their new apartment is already inhabited by a pint-sized, gravity-defying creature, Masashi begins to pull back the curtain on this sleepy town and finds that very little is what it appears to be. Unraveling a conspiracy that involves everything from remote-controlled avatars to crazed rival cults, Masashi discovers that he and his classmates are at the center of a nefarious experiment. Not only an accomplished artist but also a connoisseur of Japanese popular culture, Murakami packs his film with a delirious abundance of ideas and imagery. What other coming-of-age fantasy has tween romance, a role-playing battle royale, nuclear intrigue, rival doppelgangers, and a giant monster? Join us for the North American premiere of Jellyfish Eyes and see for yourself.  Followed by a Q&A with director Takashi Murakami. 


JERRY BECK PRESENTS: FUNNY PAPER FOLLIES
If you think Hollywood going mad for superheroes and comic books is a new thing — think again. Comics have inspired animated films for decades, beginning with the earliest animated films from over one hundred years ago (Little Nemo in Slumberland, 1908). Resident Cinefamily animation historian Jerry Beck will present the best examples of such comics-to-film adaptations, with rare 35mm and 16mm prints of classic shorts starring Popeye, L’il Abner, Superman, The Little King, Krazy Kat and many many others. It’s Pop-Art at its most poppiest, populist and pure four-color fun! 


KABHI KABHIE
India/1976/178min/Blu-ray
Director: Yash Chopra
KABHI KABHIE by Yash Chopra remains one of Hindi cinema’s most beloved films. Sweeping several awards, KABHI KABHIE began a definitive tradition of romance in Hindi cinema, perfectly mastered by Chopra. Later films such as VEER ZARA (2004) and the recent JAB TAK HAI JAAN (2012) carried much of the same powerful romantic idioms as KABHI KABHIE. The story deals with the poignancy of youthful lovers Amit Malhotra (Amitabh Bachchan) and Pooja (Rakhee) who are unable to marry due to class differences. Pooja marries Vijay Khanna the architect (Shashi Kapoor), and Amit marries Anjali (Waheeda Rehman). Fast forward to the next generation where we find the son of Pooja and Vijay, Vikram, in love with Pinky, Anjali’s secret child. Chopra doesn’t hesitate to raise taboo themes – here, Anjali’s secret child from a premarital relationship. In his exploration of all that concerns the human heart, Chopra remains ahead of his time. Eventually the original lovers Amit and Pooja meet again in their mature years as a result of their children’s romances. The pathos of time lost and found is the central theme and has lasting resonance with audiences. For lovers of poetry and the spoken word, this is one of Chopra’s most evocative films.  Hindi (English subtitles)


THE KILLERS (1946)
1946, Universal, 103 min, USA, Dir: Robert Siodmak
The CITIZEN KANE of film noir that begins with the ending - "I did something wrong ... once" - and moves backward through interweaving flashbacks to reveal the layer of double crosses that led to the opening scene. The script by Anthony Veiller (with an uncredited assist from John Huston) takes the first 10 minutes from Hemingway's short story and then spirals into the noir netherworld that Robert Siodmak depicted better than any other director. The smoldering sexuality between Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner catapulted both to super-stardom. With Edmond O’Brien and Jeff Corey.


KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS
Investigating the mysterious deaths of a number of farm animals, vet Rack Hansen discovers that his town lies in the path of hoards of migrating tarantulas. Before he can take action, the streets are overrun by killer spiders, trapping a small group of towns folk in a remote hotel. 1977, USA, 35mm, 97 minutes. directed by John "Bud" Cardos; produced by Igo Kantor; starring William Shatner, Tiffany Bolling, Woody Strode, Lieux Dressler, David McLean, Natasha Ryan


Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948)
Directed by Norman Foster
A desperate chase opens this high-intensity noir, as troubled ex-soldier Bill Saunders (Lancaster) flees the scene of a London bar fight in which he's just killed a man. Attempting to put his violent ways behind him with the help of a good woman (Fontaine), Saunders finds himself ensnared by a blackmailing hoodlum (Newton) and the inexorable pull of his past.
Universal Pictures Company, Inc. Producer: Richard Vernon. Based on the novel by Gerald Butler. Screenwriter: Leonardo Bercovici. Cinematographer: Russell Metty. Editor: Milton Carruth. Cast: Joan Fontaine, Burt Lancaster, Robert Newton, Lewis L. Russell.  35mm, b/w, 79 min. 


THE LADIES MAN
There is no better argument for Jerry Lewis’s technical genius than The Ladies’ Man.  After the wild success of The Bellboy, Jerry he was given unprecedented budgetary freedom — and boy, did he put it to good use.  As a filmmaker, Jerry loved his toys, and for The Ladies Man he built the biggest, coolest playpen of them all: a four-story, sixty-room, open-faced dollhouse.  This awe-inspiring set was so large that it comprised the entirety of two soundstages, each room armed with its own lighting kit, closed-circuit sound system, a working elevator, the world’s largest crane, and a battery of video monitors secreted around the set so Jerry could check his own performance at all times.  Populating this dollhouse with (what else?) “dolls”, Jerry put a coterie of gorgeous dames to use in a series of hilarious, incredibly choreographed setpieces that could only be compared to the best of Buster Keaton or Jacques Tati, but with that signature Jerry mania. Dir. Jerry Lewis, 1961, 35mm, 95 min.


LA AIR: SHARMAINE STARKS
LA AIR is a new artist-in-residence program that invites Los Angeles filmmakers to utilize EPFC resources in creating a new work over a four-week period. Sharmaine Starks, aka SharStar*, is a West Coast based, independent filmmaker, whose work explores inner city life and Hip Hop culture ranging from documentaries, narratives and music videos. She also teaches youth filmmaking workshops throughout Los Angeles, is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and a Mom. Portraits of women in underground West Coast Hip Hop will be presented through short documentaries and uniquely crafted music videos that combine photography, digital and film mediums and hand-processed techniques. This eclectic collection of art will serve as a platform for these relevant voices in music to be seen and heard.


The Last Step (2012)
Directed by Ali Mosaffa
Cagily narrating this labyrinthine story from beyond the grave, architect Khosrow (Mosaffa) recalls the mysterious fall that led to his demise, and his complicated marriage to a beautiful actress (Hatami).
Producer: Ali Mosaffa. Screenwriter: Ali Mosaffa. Cinematographer: Alireza Barazandeh. Editor: Fardin Sahebzamani. Cast: Leila Hatami, Ali Mosaffa, Alireza Aghakhani, Hamed Behdad, Kianoosh Gerami.   35mm, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 88 min.


Leighton Pierce: Familial Time Defamiliarized
With filmmaker Leighton Pierce in person!
Filmforum is delighted to host artist Leighton Pierce, here from New York, for the first of two different screenings in Los Angeles.  Pierce is one of the leading practitioners of experimental film and video in the United States today, and hasn’t screened in Los Angeles in a number of years.
Freed from the constraints of traditional narrative, it is that process of creating an image in the mind of the viewer--the psychological filling-in of the imagined space, not the actual photograph of a space--that Pierce engages. Through the use of rich cascading imagery against the counterpoint of the soundtrack, Pierce disintegrates the film plane, allowing viewers to embody the perceptions of the video solidly within themselves. This video encourages a different kind of viewing and listening—one in which listening and looking inward matters as much as looking outward.


The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) (France, 1963)
Directed by Luchino Visconti
Burt Lancaster was not Luchino Visconti's first choice for the proud Sicilian prince at the center of his sumptuous, CinemaScope epic set during the convulsive 1860s Risorgimento that transformed Italy into a unified nation. Even after watching Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), Visconti, according to Lancaster, only offered, "Well, maybe." The production proved challenging for both but the result is a towering landmark of postwar cinema. Lancaster delivers the performance of his career as the dignified aristocrat holding fast to aristocratic values in the face of inexorable change.
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. Producer: Goffredo Lombardo. Based on the novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. Screenwriters: Suso Cecchi D’Amico, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Enrico Medioli, Massimo Franciosa, L. Visconti. Cinematographer: Giuseppe Rotunno. Editor: Mario Serandrei. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, Claudia Cardinale, Paolo Stoppa, Rina Morelli.  35mm, color, in Italian with English subtitles, 187 min. 


LIT SHOW Film Festival
Gerry Fialka screens rare literature films to celebrate THE LIT SHOW. Dorothy Parker wrote a song that Billie Holiday sang. Tennessee Williams wrote a song that Marlon Brando sang as a rambling troubadour in The Fugitive Kind. Lonely House was written by Kurt Weill and Langston Hughes. Jack Kerouac & Allen Ginsberg wrote Pull My Daisy with David Amram. You've read the book, now hear the songs. NOW SEE THE FILM. 


Little Fugitive
1953/b&w/80 min.
Scr/dir: Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin, Ray Ashley; w/ Richie Andrusco, Ricky Brewster.
Double-crossed by a brother who's just faked his own death, Joey Norton hops a train out of the big city and hides out amid the hordes of Coney Island. In fairness, Joey is a seven-year-old Brooklyn kid. His brother Lennie is sick of having him tagging along. So with a little bit of ketchup and help from his pals, Lennie pranks Joey into believing that he's been shot dead. Over the course of a blistering summer day and night, Joey wanders through the swarming masses and takes in the sights, smells, and other sensations the boardwalk has to offer, all the while accompanied by Eddy Manson's wraithlike harmonica score.
As captured by famed street photographer and native Brooklynite Morris Engel with a customized 35mm camera - admired by Stanley Kubrick and Jean-Luc Godard alike - Little Fugitive offers an electrifying, palpably real portrait of a Coney Island now long gone. Bridging the gap between genre cinema, neorealism, and the American and European independent scenes to come in its wake, Little Fugitive is a landmark at the crossroads of film history. Another Kubrick connection: after Engel's film won the Silver Lion in Venice, it was picked up for U.S. distribution by Joseph Burstyn, who the same year released Kubrick's debut feature Fear and Desire. "Our New Wave would never have come into being if it hadn't been for Morris Engel's fine movie. It showed us the way." - Francois Truffaut.


LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF
2003, 169 min, Dir: Thom Andersen
Southern California practically bleeds celluloid; virtually everywhere you turn, you’ll see a location that once doubled as a film set. Director Thom Andersen plays private eye in this sardonic video essay, revisiting the scenes of cinematic crimes and triumphs and unraveling the tangled relationship between the movies and our metropolis. Both Los Angeles history buffs and cinema enthusiasts will marvel at the hundreds of archival and film clips revealing an almost secret history of the City of Angels. A Cinematheque favorite - see it now on the big screen!  Discussion following with director Thom Andersen.


Made in Ash (Az do mesta As) (Slovakia/Czech Republic, 2012)
Directed by Iveta Grofova
A naive teenage girl heads west from Slovakia to the Czech-German border, dreaming of a better life, but succumbing to exploitation as hard times and discrimination narrow her options and dispel her illusions. Non-professional actors and handheld camera punctuated with interludes of animation contribute to a gritty but lyrical portrayal of border town realities.
Protos Productions. Producer: Barbara Kipsova. Screenwriters: Marek Lescak, Iveta Grofova. Cinematographer: Viera Bacikova. Editor: Maros Slapeta. Cast: Dorotka Bila, Silvia Halusicova, Robin Horky, Jarka Bucincova, Maria Billa. HDCam; color; in Czech, Slovak, and German with English subtitles; 84 min.


THE MAID
A woman feels she must fight to hold on to her place in the household where she's been a servant for much of her life in this drama from writer and director Sebastian Silva. Raquel (Catalina Saavedra) works as a maid for a well-to-do Chilean family, and has been with the household so long that she's come to think of herself as part of the family. However, Raquel is also aware of the distance between herself and her employers, and though she's fiercely devoted to Mundo Valdes (Alejandro Goic), his wife, Pilar (Claudia Celedón), and their son, Lucas (Agustín Silva), she finds herself increasingly at odds with their rebellious daughter, Camila (Andrea García-Huidobro). Years of hard and unrelenting work have begun to take their toll on Raquel, and Mundo decides she could use some help; he hires a young au pair, Mercedes (Mercedes Villanueva), to assist her, but Raquel refuses to allow anyone to usurp her role in any way, and treats the girl so horribly she soon quits. Unaware of the conflict between Raquel and Mercedes, Mundo hires an older and more experienced women to work with Raquel, Sonia (Anita Reeves), and it's not long before the two domestics are locked in a fierce battle of wills. La Nana (aka The Maid) received its American premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. 1 hr. 57 min. Directed By Sebastián Silva 


MAN IN THE DARK
1953, Sony Repertory, 70 min, USA, Dir: Lew Landers
A long-lost noir in fully restored 3-D and glorious black-and-white! Pinched by the cops after pulling off a big heist, crook Steve Rawley (Edmond O’Brien) undergoes an experimental operation to eliminate his criminal urges. It also makes him forget where he hid the loot ... much to the consternation of his old gang and his itchy-fingered girlfriend (Audrey Totter). Fortunately, clues pop up (literally!) in Rawley’s dreams, and soon he’s leading the crooks and cops on a careening hunt for the money, culminating in a spectacular chase through Santa Monica’s creepy old Pacific Ocean Amusement Park! NOT ON DVD!


THE MAN ON THE EIFFEL TOWER
Though hampered by a small budget that shrank with each shooting day, director Burgess Meredith fashioned a serviceable film version of Georges Simenon's A Battle of Nerves. Retitled The Man on the Eiffel Tower, the film pits Simenon's analytical Inspector Maigret (Charles Laughton) against a wily murderer. We know virtually from the outset that the guilty party is Radek (Franchot Tone), a psychotic with delusions of grandeur who has been seduced into killing the wealthy aunt of slatternly Edna Wallace (Jean Wallace). Maigret suspects Radek, but without solid proof he must suffer the taunting and baiting of the beyond-the-law killer. Eventually Maigret wins the psychological battle, forcing Radek to seek refuge on the titular tower. Burgess Meredith also appears in the film as the sort of obvious suspect that is automatically disregarded by any true detective-story buff, despite the most damning evidence. Originally released in eye-pleasing Anscocolor.  Dir. Burgess Meredith, 1 hr. 22 min., 1949.


THE MANZANAR FISHING CLUB
The Manzanar Fishing Club is a feature-length documentary that chronicles the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans from a unique perspective: through the eyes of those who defied the armed guards, barbed wire and searchlights to fish for trout in the surrounding waters of the Eastern Sierra. This untold story offers a unique perspective on freedom, where internees found relief from the daily grind of unjust incarceration by matching wits with the trout in the surrounding waters of the famed Eastern Sierra. Q&A to follow with filmmakers. 


MATT McCORMICK FILMS
Experimental documentaries focusing on the sublime decay of contemporary culture and the landscape both urban & rural. Matt McCormick is a Portland, Oregon based artist, award winning filmmaker and noted video installation artist. His work extends documentary and experimental filmmaking, focusing on the sublime decay of contemporary culture and the landscape both urban and rural. His work spans mediums and defies genre distinctions to fashion witty, abstract observations of contemporary culture and the urban landscape. His project Future So Bright maps and catalogs the abandoned spaces in the American West, while American Nutria "examines the plight of an imported species while chastising capitalism’s tendency to create its own disasters." The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal makes the observation that the process of destroying one art form unwittingly creates another, while his installation piece Ride a Wave To Tomorrow’s Sunset reflects on society’s need for ‘synthetic meditation’.
The Great Northwest (2012, 70 minutes) Matt McCormick's engaging experimental documentary based on the re-creation of a 3,200 mile road-trip made in 1958 by four Seattle women who thoroughly documented their journey in an elaborate scrapbook... Fifty years later, Portland filmmaker Matt McCormick found that scrapbook in a thrift store, and in 2010 set out on the road, following their route as precisely as possible and searching out every stop in which the ladies had documented. In 1958, Bev, Berta, Sissie and Clarice packed into a Plymouth and hit the road. Visiting tourist attractions and national parks in Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon, they explored the Pacific Northwest just months before the construction of dams and the Interstate Highway System would drastically change the landscape. Along the way they took photographs, kept notes, and collected menus, brochures, post-cards and receipts, all of which the organized into a crafty scrapbook. Patiently shot with an observational and voyeuristic approach, The Great Northwest is a lyrical time-capsule that explores the fragility of history while documenting the present. Using only location sound recordings and void of any narration or music, the film paints a portrait of the region while exploring how the visual landscape of the region has changed over the past 50 years. While documenting transformations in culture, architecture, and land-use, the film explores the region’s relationship to natural resources, looks at the history of roads, and considers the impact of tourism on the history and development of the American West.
The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal - Emerging from the human psyche and showing characteristics of abstract expressionism, minimalism and Russian constructivism, graffiti removal has secured its place in the history of modern art while being created by artists who are unconscious of their artistic achievements. 


Memoirs of Prison (Memórias do cárcere) (Brazil/France, 1984)
Directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Nelson Pereira dos Santos planned to follow up Vidas Secas (1963) immediately with an adaptation of Graciliano Ramos' account of his time as a political prisoner in the 1930s, but political realities after the coup of 1964 delayed the project two decades. Taking up Ramos' story just before the then-government's anti-communist crackdown, dos Santos follows the author's ordeal as a prisoner, but also his journey as an intellectual encountering in his fellow prisoners the humanity he'd only theorized before as a political abstraction.
Embrafilme. Screenwriter: Nelson Pereira dos Santos. Based on the memoir by Graciliano Ramos. Cinematographers: Jose Medeiros, Antônio Liz Soares. Editor: Carlos Alberto Camuyrano. Cast: Carlos Vereza, Glória Pires, José Dumont, Tonico Pereira, Lygia Diniz.
35mm, color, in Portuguese with English subtitles, 185 min.


THE MILK OF SORROW
Fausta (Magaly Solier) suffers from “The Milk of Sorrow”, an illness transmitted through mother’s milk by women who’ve been raped during Peru’s Civil Wars. Stricken with the fear that she’s contracted the illness from her mother’s breast milk  — Fausta goes to extreme lengths to protect her own sexuality and safety. After her mother’s sudden death, she finds herself compelled to embark on a frightening journey for re-awakening, freedom and wholeness. The Hollywood Reporter wrote, “Gorgeously shot with a plethora of haunting images”. Claudia Llosa directs this Academy Award® Nominee for Best Foreign Film. Winner of the Golden Berlin Bear Award (Best Film) and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 59th Annual Berlin Film Festival. Running time: 94 minutes. In Spanish and Quechua, with English subtitles.  Written and Directed by Claudia Llosa. Produced by Claudia Llosa, Antonio Chavarrías, and José María Morales


The Milky Way
Luís Buñuel’s The Milky Way follows two pilgrims en route to the shrine of St. James in Santiago de Compostela, in Spain. Despite the setting in politically tumultuous 1969, no one they encounter mentions politics, only religion. Making outrageous leaps across space and time—Albigensian heretics perform secret rites; the pope is assassinated by a group of radicals; in a domestic scene, Mary compliments Jesus on his beard—the film is a provocative turn to theology, produced at a time when filmmaking was focused on political themes. (1969, 91 min. Dir. L. Buñuel.)


MISS LOVELY
India/2012/110min/DCP
Director: Ashim Ahluwalia
MISS LOVELY is the story of two brothers immersed in the seedy underbelly of Bollywood C-movies and soft-porn during the 1980’s - an era of strict censorship in cinema. Brothers Sonu (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) and Vicky (Anil George) are prolific film producers for Mumbai’s booming porn market. The domineering and sleazy Vicky leads the operation while his quiet brother pales in his shadow, left in the dust. This pushes Sonu to search deeper for human connection but he only knows the world of alcoholic divas and sleazy thugs. When Sonu meets Pinky (Niharika Singh), a gorgeous and sultry woman with a mysterious past, his world is turned upside down. Torn between love and fortune, the brothers’ jealousy, corruption, and betrayal pull them further apart. The narrative shifts from mobster flick to romance to kitschy movie, and is full of surprising twists and turns.
Indian New Wave director Ashim Ahluwalia crafts a highly stylized dark drama reminiscent of the best in underground cinema. MISS LOVELY made its world premiere in competition in the Un Certain Regard at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. Hindi (English subtitles)


Modest Reception (Paziraie sadeh) (2012)
Directed by Mani Haghighi
An Iranian couple pursues a madcap mission, driving through the countryside and bestowing enormous quantities of cash to simple country people. As the meaning of their mission becomes clearer, a portrait of the everyday people of Iran emerges. Actor-director Mani Haghighi scores a double triumph as co-star of this surprising and fast-paced feature.
Producer: Mani Haghighi. Screenwriter: Mani Haghighi. Cast: Taraneh Alidoosti, Mani Hagighi, Saeed Changizian, Esmaeel Khalaj, Saber Abbar. DigiBeta, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 100 min.


NATIVE SON
1951, Argentina Sono Films, 91 min, USA/Argentina, Dir: Pierre Chenal
Richard Wright’s 1940 novel, Native Son, was a literary sensation when first published, providing African-Americans with a startlingly symbolic narrative and powerful new voice. A film version, however, was impossible, as the story delved into deep-seated fears - on the part of both blacks and whites - that American movies were not prepared to face. South America, however, had no such qualms, and in 1951 expatriate Frenchman Pierre Chenal and Argentine producer Jaime Prades set about adapting the harrowing tale, with Buenos Aires standing in for Chicago. It is equal parts noir thriller and social commentary, depicting the existential and societal pressures faced by a black man trying to survive in a culture dominated by whites. Starring Wright himself as Bigger Thomas! NOT ON DVD!


NEIGHBORING SOUNDS
“A beautiful, scarily assured debut, a collection of small moments that add up to a pointillist wonder.” — Scott Tobias, AV Club. 
Opening with an incredible tracking shot through the world it occupies, Neighboring Sounds assures us from its first aurally-saturated moment that we’re in the hands of a deft and daring new visionary. A slow-building thriller refracted through the languorous, meandering lens of Altman at his best, director Kleber Mendonça Filho’s first narrative feature floored festival critics upon its release. A lyrical graph of an affluent Brazilian seaside neighborhood, the film is a cryptically naturalistic character study of over a dozen divergent occupants of one street — servants, criminals, lovers, dangerously close-knit families. The pensive everyman at the film’s masterfully soundscaped center is João, whose mild investigation into a petty theft splinters in more directions than would be sensible for a lesser director. These loosely-stitched slices-of-life culminate in a daylight noir dense with tenderness and dread, a nuanced exploration of Brazil’s famous socio-economic tensions, and a sweetly melancholy commentary on surveillance, technology, and co-habitation. Fans of intelligent drama won’t find a film more intriguing and engaging than this. Dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho, 2013, digital presentation, 131 min.  Director in person for 4/5 screening (USC) and 4/6 screening (Silent Movie Theater).  The 4/5 screening will also be followed by a reception catered by Cha Cha Cha Restaurant.


NEW WORKS SALON
Several local and visiting artists will present in-progress or recently completed works in an informal screening with brief introductions by the artists and time for discussion between each work. William E. Jones will present Joy in Repetition, a lecture / performance addressing the relationship between artists Peter Roehr and Charlotte Posenenske, and the gallerist Paul Maenz. The performance will include a selection of Roehr’s film montages, along with Jones’ own Film Montages (for Peter Roehr), an appropriated video work that also takes simple repetition as its first principle, arranging fragments of gay porn films into a musical composition at once austere and erotic. San Francisco-based Irwin Swirnoff will perform we r bodies, using his short films, still photos and creative non-fiction, Irwin creates an intimate & immediate setting where he explores sexuality, romance, longing, anguish, pain, and resilience. Stephen van Dyck's show Customer Care airs on Los Angeles artist-run radio station KChung Radio. Through an episodic narrative of van Dyck's own defaulted loans, debts and bills, he calls debt collectors, telemarketers and customer service agents and talks with them about each other's personal lives. In one touching episode, a AAA agent in Dallas rings in the new year with van Dyck over the phone, wishing each other good luck in the new year for each other's creative careers. In others, van Dyck's curiosity and questions reveal a Costa Rican Time Warner Cable agent who has been to the jungle and seen jaguars and toucans, a cruise line booking agent who can't afford to take vacations, and a young mother in a new city trying to make friends while her husband is fighting in Afghanistan. Rick Bahto will perhaps show Room Film, a short Super 8 film looking at his filthy bedroom.


NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES
1948, Universal, 81 min, USA, Dir: John Farrow
"This gift, which I never asked for and don’t understand, has brought me only unhappiness!" Edward G. Robinson gives a doom-laden performance as a bogus carnival "mentalist" who becomes cursed with the ability to see into the future. John Farrow, a director at his most stylish in noir terrain, adapts from the novel by master of suspense Cornell Woolrich (REAR WINDOW). Co-starring Gail Russell (THE UNINVITED) and John Lund (NO MAN OF HER OWN), and featuring gorgeous camerawork from John Seitz (DOUBLE INDEMNITY). NOT ON DVD!


NO WAY OUT
1950, 20th Century Fox, 106 min, USA, Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
After a man dies while under the care of new black doctor Luther Brooks (Sidney Poitier in his feature debut), the patient’s racist brother (Richard Widmark) refuses to allow an autopsy that would prove the physician’s actions were justified. As tensions in the community escalate, Dr. Brooks gets his autopsy the only way he can - by giving himself up for murder. Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee make brief appearances in this tense drama, one of the most blistering critiques of racism ever filmed.


OLD CATS
Isadora (Bélgica Castro) and Enrique (Alejandro Sievking) live a comfortable life. They have a modest yet elegant apartment in Santiago’s old downtown district - complete with a lovely terrace and mountain views. Well into their 80’s, they both maintain their independence and live happily with their books, their eclectic art and most of all with their beloved two ample cats. That is until, one day, the building’s elevator breaks and unable to descend the ten flights down - Isadora is left a prisoner in her own home. At the same inconvenient time, Isadora’s passionate “wild child” daughter Rosario (Claudia Celedón) and her butch female lover, Hugo, (Catalina Saavedra) come for a visit with a new “scheme” of how to make them all rich. The one glitch is that the elderly couple must sign over the lease to their apartment. The tug of war between mother and daughter escalates when Isadora, beginning to show signs of onset senility, has a near dangerous adventure when she bravely journeys down ten flights and onto the crowded Santiago streets. Once rescued, mother and daughter and their respective spouses begin the slow process of forgiveness and begin to see a new future. Using many of the same actors as THE MAID, Sebastián Silva and co-director Pedro Peirano have made a touching film of black humor and pathos – reflecting the often treacherous territory of mother-daughter relationships and the empathy needed to find a survivable neutral ground.   Provided courtesy of Elephant Eye Films. Not Rated. Running time: 89 minutes. In Spanish, with English subtitles. Written & Directed by Sebastián Silva and Pedro Peirano


THE OTHER WOMAN
1954, 20th Century Fox, 81 min, USA, Dir: Hugo Haas
When megalomaniacal film director Walter Darman (Hugo Haas) fires no-talent actress Sherry Stewart (Cleo Moore) from his latest artistic opus, the shamed sexpot schemes revenge. She drugs Darman, convinces him they’ve shared a night of scandalous debauchery and begins the blackmail. But this is a director with experience at rewriting other people’s scripts… NOT ON DVD!


The Outré World of Rolf Forsberg
A true auteur of the often unjustly unsung genre of sponsored films, Rolf Forsberg has written and directed a number of highly stylized expressionistic shorts that defy simple description, including the controversial and acclaimed Parable (1964), which was named to the National Film Registry last year. While many of Forsberg's films were made on assignment for major religious organizations, his complex body of work is unexpectedly provocative, independent and experimental. Illustrating key influences, including Bergman and Fellini, Forsberg employs enigmatic symbolism and poetic lyricism to create vivid, nightmarish allegories situated between the spiritual and the secular, heaven and hell. UCLA Film & Television Archive is pleased to celebrate Rolf Forsberg's uniquely humanist canon with a selection of some of his most notable films and a conversation with the filmmaker himself. In-person: director Rolf Forsberg.


PAD YATRA: A GREEN ODYSSEY
LA PREMIERE
Director: Wendy J.N. Lee
Pad Yatra: A Green Odyssey takes us on an incredible journey with 700 souls who set out to trek across the Himalayas with a single passion, to spread their message of ecological compassion and global warming. The drastic weather changes in recent seasons has vastly impacted the "3rd pole", tragically destabilized the local ecosystem. As simple as the act of taking one step, the trekkers cover 450 miles following the passionate and eloquent guidance of H.H. the Gyalwang Drupka, one the main Buddhist spiritual leaders of the region and honoree of the United Nations. Despite struggling along the most treacherous terrain on the planet, illness, starvation, and injuries , 50,000 trees are planted, and education regarding plastic, water and biodegradable materials is spread to every village and community they touch on their path.
Shot with solar power by Ladakhi monk Ngawang Sodpa, the documentary features notable supporters including actor Aamir Khan. Michelle Yeoh serves as Executive Producer, and the film is beautifully narrated by Daryl Hannah. Director Wendy Lee's debut feature is a heroic effort that is no less than a call for action and has left audiences world wide deeply moved and transformed. English, Tibetan (English Subtitles)


POINT AND SHOOT: VIDEOS BY GEORGE KUCHAR (A CELEBRATION)
Filmforum pays tribute to the late great George Kuchar with an evening of his video work. While his decades of films are most often screened, George played and made remarkable works on video for many years, most notably his Weather Diary series, but also much more.
This program was curated by Abina Manning of Video Data Bank, which distributes videos by the Kuchar Brothers. Quite a few are probably Los Angeles premieres!
We're delighted to partner with the Free Form Film Festival this weekend, and are really honored to have Mike Kuchar in person for both evenings as well. We also have, from VDB, Tom Colley, who has been overseeing the preservation work on the videos.
Screening:
All title descriptions written by George Kuchar. Total running time 76 minutes. All from video, 4:3.
Point 'n Shoot (1989, 5:08)
Route 666 (1994, 7:51)
Season of Sorrow (1996, 12:23)
Uncle Evil (1996, 7:02)
Honey Bunnies On Ice (2001, 7:00)
Burnout (2003, 19:47)
HotSpell (2011, 25:55)
George's final video. Los Angeles premiere.


POSSESSION
1981, Bleeding Light Film Group, 127 min, France/West Germany, Dir: Andrzej Zulawski
In this controversial, unclassifiable cult film, secret agent Mark (Sam Neill) reunites with Anna (Isabelle Adjani) and their young son only to be asked for a divorce. But it’s not because his wife has been seeing another man - when Mark hires a private investigator to follow her, he learns she’s been spending time with a strange, tentacled creature (designed by famed special effects artist Carlo Rambaldi). Director Andrzej Zulawski was in the midst of his own difficult divorce when he came up with this nightmarish mix of domestic distress, bloody violence and bio-horror. Adjani’s performance in dual roles (she also plays Anna’s doppelgänger, Helen) earned a César as well as a Best Actress award at Cannes. “POSSESSION starts on a hysterical note, stays there and surpasses it as the film progresses.” – Variety


The Professionals (1966)
"Underrated all-star western." — Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader
Directed by Richard Brooks.
A group of mercenaries (Marvin, Ryan, Strode and Lancaster, as explosives expert Bill Dolworth) accepts a lucrative assignment to recover a Texas millionaire's wife (Cardinale) from a Mexican bandit (Palance). But the mission doesn't go as expected, and little about the setup is as it initially seems. A story of honor and adventure, the film features some of Richard Brooks' best dialogue delivered with relish by Lancaster. "Go to hell," instructs Cardinale's Mrs. Grant. "Yes ma'am," replies Lancaster, "I'm on my way."
Columbia Pictures. Producer: Richard Brooks. Screenwriter: Richard Brooks. Cinematographer: Conrad Hall. Editor: Peter Zinner. Cast: Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan,Woody Strode, Claudia Cardinale. 35mm, color 125 min.


QUEST
Equally allegorical is Elaine and Saul Bass’s rarely screened short film Quest (1983), a Ray Bradbury–scripted adaptation of his short story “Frost and Fire”: on a planet where humans age their entire lifespans in only eight days, a child has a week to attempt the archetypal hero’s journey and restore longevity.  (1983/color/30 min.)


QUINTET
1979/color/118 min.
Scr: Robert Altman, Frank Barhydt, Patricia Resnick; dir: Robert Altman; w/ Paul Newman, Vittorio Gassman, Fernando Rey, Bibi Andersson, Brigitte Fossey
Writer-director Robert Altman’s frigid drama set in a post-apocalyptic ice age compresses one of his favorite premises—the loner who navigates a corrupt society—into a highly unusual, minimalist fable. At times resembling a future Western, it sketches a story in which seal hunter Essex (Paul Newman) and his pregnant wife wander through a snowy wasteland into the ruins of a frozen city. There, he becomes embroiled in a real-life murderous extrapolation of a board game called Quintet involving five competing players and a sixth “advisor.” Newman and the international cast (including Bibi Andersson and Fernando Rey) portray the last remnants of the human race; death is ever-present, but the exhausted characters carry wearily on, trying to avoid the packs of roving Rottweilers and murderous intrigue in the hopes of surviving for another day. Altman and his team created a special filter that claustrophobically blurs the edges of the frame, and his typically drifting camera and searching zooms find much to explore in the film’s sets—humanitarian posters, abstract sculptures, and assorted detritus in the abandoned structures of Montreal’s Expo 67 World’s Fair. Altman’s parents had recently passed away, and he described the film as being conceived in the shadow of their deaths; a meditation on life as a dangerous game, a constant cheating, a gamble that promises the thrill of the chase.


RENDEZVOUS IN KIRUNA / Rendez-vous à Kiruna
97 min, France, 2013
Directed by: Anne Novion, Written by: Olivier Massart, Anne Novion, Pierre Novion
Anne Novion’s sophomore effort, Rendezvous In Kiruna, continues her fascination with all things Sweden and serves up another compelling vehicle for her leading man (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) in the guise of a Bergmanesque road movie. Ernest (Darroussin) is a renowned architect who devotes all of his energy, both spiritually and physically, to his career. Out of the blue, he receives a call that will change the course of his life. The Swedish police would like him to travel to Lapland to positively identify a body of a complete stranger - the body of his son. At first Ernest refuses, in part because he has never known his son, but eventually he decides to take the long trip. Driving deeper into the hauntingly gorgeous hinterlands of Sweden, he picks up Magnus (Soulis), a hitchhiker of about the same age as his son would have been, and who eventually breaks through Ernest’s willful alienation from the world. This superbly measured film allows the emotions of its principles to fully penetrate the scene without pushing a note.
Franco-Swedish writer/director Anne Novion studied film at the University of Saint-Denis, and completed her post-graduate degree with a thesis on the subject of "Anguish, Guilt and Despair in Bergman's oeuvre." 


Rhino Season (Fasle Kargadan) (2012)
Directed by Bahman Ghobadi
Bahman Ghobadi's moving feature stars Iranian matinee idol Behrouz Vossoughi in the story of Sahel, a Kurdish poet, imprisoned during the Islamic revolution, and freed after a 30-year incarceration. Seeking a reunion with his wife, who had been advised that he died in prison, Sahel struggles to align his past and future.
Screenwriter: Bahman Ghobadi. Cast: Behrouz Vossoughi, Monica Bellucci, Yilmaz Erdogan.  Digital video, color, in Persian with English subtitles, 88 min.


Rio, 100 Degrees (Rio, 40 graus) (Brazil, 1956)
Directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Shot over the course of two years, Nelson Pereira dos Santos' first feature follows the trajectories of multiple characters who live in Rio's favelas—a band of young peanut sellers, a couple in love, a hood out for revenge—as their lives intersect across the city over the course of a single Sunday. Dynamic compositions and powerful montage capture the striking contrasts of class and race that shape their lives.
Columbia Pictures of Brazil. Producers: Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Mario Barras, Ciro Freire Cúri, Luís Jardim, Louis-Henri Guitton, Pedro Kosinski. Screenwriter: Nelson Pereira dos Santos. Cinematographer: Hélio Silva. Editor: Rafael Justo Valverde. Cast: Jece Valadão, Glauce Rocha, Roberto Batalin, Ana Beatriz, Arinda Serafilm.  35mm, b/w, color, in Portuguese with English subtitles, 100 min. In-person:  director Nelson Pereira dos Santos.


RUBIN AND ED
Drop your favorite squeaky toy and turn off the Mahler — it’s time to go on a vision quest, with one of the most playful, strange and unique wonders of the early-’90s “indie magical realism” boom. Circa his infamously high-kicking Letterman incident, Crispin Glover is amazing as an unhinged agoraphobic with a frozen cat problem and some serious platform shoes. As he goes toe-to-toe with WKRP In Cincinatti’s Howard Hesseman giddily portraying a hapless real-estate seminar junkie, Rubin and Ed drags the buddy comedy formula out into the desert, gives it a hallucinatory sunstroke, and buries it where only the oddballs dare to dig. Trent Harris’s Utah-centric feature debut is big on heart, and boasts not only nonstop, highly quotable outbursts of unrestrained acting (“My cat can eat a whole watermelon!”), but also as much goofball charm as the weirdest episodes of The Adventures of Pete & Pete. This thoroughly (and literally) wigged-out journey of malformed man love has still never been on DVD; join us for an ultra-rare 35mm presentation of this marvel of laid-back lunacy! Writer/director Trent Harris will be here in person for a Q&A after the film! Dir. Trent Harris, 1992, 35mm, 82 min.


SAFE
Throughout his cinematic career, Todd Haynes has made films both in the avant-garde tradition and for Hollywood. Haynes’ move from the underground to the mainstream, however, has not been a straightforward trajectory. This Cinematheque108 will consider Haynes’ lasting commitment to formal, thematic, and narrative experimentation, showing clips from Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987), Poison (1991), Far from Heaven (2002), I’m Not There (2007), and Mildred Pierce (2011). Special attention will be paid to Haynes’ film Safe (1995) starring Julianne Moore, screened in its entirety.


SALMA
UK/India/2012/90min/HDCAM
Director: Kim Longinotto
Master documentarian Kim Longinotto returns to IFFLA with her latest compelling work, SALMA, the extraordinary story of one South Indian woman's courageous journey in the face of mass oppression. At the young age of 13, Salma's childhood was stripped away as her family locked her away from the outside world, forbidding her to study and forcing her into marriage. In her own prison, Salma found salvation through poetry. Fearful of what might happen if anyone were to find out, she created an intricate system to sneak her words, scribbled on small scraps of paper to the outside as she was held captive by her family for 25 years. Against all odds, the poems found their way into the hands of a publisher - the first steps to a long life as the most famous Tamil poet.
Filmmaker Longinotto follows Salma as she journeys back for the first time to the village and her family home. Full of hope for the next generation and the young girls of her own family, Salma's discovery of her bittersweet promise and poisonous traditions is heartbreaking. Longinotto captures a tragically painful and beautiful portrait of an incredible artist and important voice. SALMA garnered the Audience Award for Feature Documentary at the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival. Tamil (English subtitles)


The Scalphunters (1968)
Directed by Sydney Pollack
A Western with a blistering satiric edge, The Scalphunters finds Burt Lancaster again embracing an unsavory character as Joe Bass, an ornery frontier trapper who is forced to give up a wealth of furs in exchange for an escaped slave, Joseph Lee, played by Ossie Davis. When Bass subsequently loses Lee to a band of even more loathsome scalphunters (headed by Telly Savalas and Shelley Winters), he wages a one man war across the desert to reclaim his "property." Balancing sharp wit, racial politics and the violence of revenge, the film culminates in an extended, mud-soaked fist fight that's a true classic of the genre.
United Artists. Producers: Jules Levy, Arnold Laven. Screenwriter: William Norton.  Cinematographer: Duke Callaghan. Editor: John Woodcock. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Shelley Winters, Telly Savalas, Ossie Davis.   35mm, color, 103 min. 


SECRET BEYOND THE DOOR
1948, Universal, 99 min, USA, Dir: Fritz Lang
Director Fritz Lang jumped (with abandon) onto the 1940s Freudian bandwagon with this wildly symbolic cinematic fright ride. On a pre-wedding holiday, Joan Bennett meets the real man of her dreams (Michael Redgrave), who sweeps her off her feet and into a nightmarish honeymoon that's a cross between REBECCA and BLUEBEARD. Ridiculous but visually stunning!


SHAHID
India/2012/126min/DCP
Director: Hansal Mehta
Shot in secrecy, SHAHID is based on true events in the life of Shahid Azmi, a defense lawyer and human rights activist who was murdered in 2010 at the age of 32, in retribution for his defense of a man accused in the Mumbai terror attacks.
Raised in an impoverished Mumbai neighborhood plagued by inter-communal violence, young Shahid reluctantly joins a militant training camp in Kashmir, only to reject its message of violence. After finding himself defenseless against a rigid judicial system that falsely accuses him of terrorism, Shahid single-handedly undertakes a spirited fight to give voice to those that India’s draconian, anti-terrorism laws fail to protect, risking his own life in the process.
Directed with impeccable precision and relentless urgency by Hansal Mehta, this gripping courtroom drama features remarkably nuanced performances by a stellar cast, led by Raj Kumar Yadav, who effortlessly embodies a man’s fearless idealism that, in the midst of violence and injustice, shines like a bright ray of hope. Hindi (English subtitles)


SHE AND HE
As her husband Eiichi becomes more entangled in his life as businessman, Naoko looks for ways to expand her own life even as her husband's life shrinks in scope and intimacy. She finds new interests, new love, and a greater sense of her place in the world.  1963, Susumu Hani, 110 min, 35 mm


SHIP OF THESEUS
India/2012/140min/DCP
Director: Anand Gandhi
The stories of three disparate people collide, as they struggle through trials unbeknownst to each other. Relying on her remarkable intuition and the help of her boyfriend, a blind woman enjoys a successful career as a photographer. When she starts to regain her eyesight, she is confronted by her own artistic limitations and an ever-changing sense of identity. A man of unshakable principles has committed his life to fighting pharmaceutical companies against animal abuse. When he is diagnosed with a severe illness, he must choose between standing by his long held moral beliefs and his own survival. An aimless stockbroker who has recently received a kidney transplant discovers a sense of purpose when he meets a man whose kidney was unlawfully stolen. As the three characters grapple to redefine themselves in the face of their new realities, the film raises the question of what constitutes identity when integral parts of us change. The three narratives gracefully converge into a soulful finale that reveals our wondrous interconnectedness in the ephemeron of life.
Elegantly layered in its themes, evocatively photographed, and featuring beautifully understated performances, SHIP OF THESEUS reveals an original and razor sharp directorial voice in this feature debut from playwright Anand Gandhi.  English, Hindi (English subtitles)


Short Films Starring Llyn Foulkes
The Hammer presents an evening of short films and film excerpts—dating from the late 1950s to present—featuring the artist and musician Llyn Foulkes. With an introduction by Stanya Kahn.
Falling Pink (1959, Dir. Robert H. Spring, 9 min.)
This art film features the young Foulkes as a deranged artist at work.
Excerpt from The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (1974, 5 min.)
Llyn Foulkes and the Rubber Band perform for Johnny.
Happy Song For You (2011, Dir. Kahn, 5 min.)
A bloodied and blindfolded Foulkes appears in this collaboration with video artist Stanya Kahn.
The Machine (2012, Michael Gregory, 15 min.) Foulkes performs on The Machine in this short film by Michael Gregory, which is also featured in the exhibition.


SILSILA
India/1981/183min/Blu-ray
Director: Yash Chopra
Amit and Chandni are madly in love. When tragedy forces Amit to marry his brother’s widow, Shobha, Chandni in turn is wed to Dr. V.K. Anand (Sanjeev Kumar). SILSILA is a sizzling love story between the primary cast of characters Amit (Amitabh Bachchan), Chandni (Rekha), and Shobha (Jaya Bachchan). The film was a huge commercial hit for its drama, bold exploration of the extramarital affair, and its haunting music. Audiences identify with the characters’ realizations that love is patience and love is faith. A melodrama in the best sense of the word, SILSILA is stunningly shot in spectacular locations. It is remembered both for its pairing of Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha and its evocative poetry. A must-see for lovers of mainstream Bollywood cinema. Hindi (English subtitles)


SIMON KILLER
Directed by Antonio Campos. Country: USA & France, Language: English & French. Runtime: 101 minutes, Year: 2012.
A recent college graduate goes to Paris after breaking up with his girlfriend of five years. His life should be open-ended and full of promise, but he can’t shake his feelings of loss. Being a stranger in a strange land only aggravates his situation. When he falls in love with a young mysterious prostitute, a fateful journey begins, though we soon learn that Simon is the one with deeper secrets.
Director/screenwriter Antonio Campos is a powerful, visceral storyteller. He and his team have created the perfect cinematic language to bring this hauntingly dark odyssey to life. The camerawork is exquisite and the sound design rich, engineered to permeate your psyche and make you feel you are walking in Simon’s shadow. Brady Corbet, a gifted Festival alumnus, inhabits the dark soul of Simon in one of his most complicated and fully realized performances. In fact, every role is perfectly cast to keep the film taut and tense.Simon Killer is a neonoir thriller that creates an unsafe world where the line between truth and dishonesty blurs. Q&A with Antonio Campos and Brady Corbet to follow (4/11 screening only).


SMOG
The laconic and moody Smog (1962, 35mm, 88 min) is a little-known film from director Franco Rossi that presents a compelling outsider's perspective, following Italian attorney Vittorio Ciocchetti (Enrico Maria Salerno) through two days in the City of Angels, from LAX airport and Pierre Koenig's Stahl House (both newly built) to the oil wells of Culver City. Complements the exhibition Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940–1990.


SO DARK THE NIGHT
1948, Sony Repertory, 71 min, USA, Dir: Joseph H. Lewis
Parisian detective Henri Cassin (Stephen Geray) takes a much-needed vacation to the French countryside after his doctor recommends he take some time off work. The only problem: a pair of young lovers who disappear and force Cassin into action. Another film noir gem from director Joseph H. Lewis. NOT ON DVD!


THE SOURCE FAMILY
A radical experiment in ’70s utopian living, Los Angeles’ The Source Family was known for their outlandish style, popular health food restaurant, rock band, and beautiful women, all of which made them the darlings of Hollywood’s Sunset Strip — but their outsider ideals, and the unconventional behavior of their spiritual leader Father Yod caused controversy with local authorities. Fleeing to Hawaii, the Family met a dramatic demise in 1975 — but decades later, former family members have surfaced and the rock band has reformed, revealing how their time with Father Yod shaped their lives in the most unexpected ways. The Source provides an intimate, insiders’ view of this incredible group of people through their own archival photos, home movies, audio recordings, and contemporary interviews with Family members. Serving as a highly personal guide to the Seventies counterculture movement, The Source is inspired by the cult classic book “The Source: The Story of Father Yod, Ya Ho Wa 13, and The Source Family” (Process Media). Dirs. Jodi Wille & Maria Demopoulos, 2013, digital presentation, 98 min.


Starbound – New Videos by Mike Kuchar
With Mike Kuchar, Free Form Film festival Curator Ryan Wylie, and Video Data Bank Collection Manager Tom Colley in person!
Mike Kuchar returns to Filmforum with new video works. Mixing the romantic yearnings of poetic souls, strapping young men, and the eloquent and peculiar fascination that he has for aliens and architecture, Mike Kuchar continues to produce his own unique brand of video art. Join us for a very special evening, which will probably include a couple of Mike's actors as well.
Screening (subject to change):
Dumped (2009, DV video, Color,Stereo, 4:3, 10:20 min.)
Animal (2009, DV video, color, stereo, 4:30, 16:38 min.)
The Stone Boy (2011, DV Video, color, stereo, 16:9, 6 min)
Midnight Suite (2011, DV video, color, stereo, 16:9, 6 min)
Starbound (2012, DV Video, Color, Stereo, 16:9, 47 min.)


STAVISKY / Stavisky
35mm, 1:66, Mono, Color, 117 min, France, 1974
Directed by: Alain Resnais, Written by: Jorge Semprun.
Jean-Paul Belmondo is in peak form as Alexandre Stavisky, the mysterious real-life con artist who single handedly brought France to the edge of financial collapse in 1934. Known as “Handsome Sacha,” Stavisky skirted the edges of criminality until he charmed his way into the highest stratum of French society, and began to sell its denizens fake bonds by the lot. Charles Boyer, in his final performance, shines serenely as a Baron who chooses to follow Stavisky to utter ruin rather than surrender his illusions. Yet, even as the Stavisky affair topples the French Third Republic and opens the door to fascism in the wake of the Great Depression, Resnais’ grand design leaves us with the unmistakable impression that Stavisky was a mere pawn in a greater game. Resnais completes the tapestry by shadowing Trotsky's brief period of exile in France during this same period. The pulsing script by Jorge Semprún, jazzy Sondheim score, and Resnais’ impeccable camera serve up an aestheticized façade that elegantly mirrors the escapism of the era. Rediscover this sparkling gem from the legendary director of Last Year at Marienbad. 


STREET OF CHANCE
1942, Universal, 74 min, USA, Dir: Jack Hively
The very first adaptation of a Cornell Woolrich suspense novel for the big screen! A man loses his memory after being struck by a falling beam, and as he struggles to piece his life together he realizes he has lived the preceding year as another person. Is it all a tortured twist of fate or a sinister, calculated plot? NOT ON DVD!


Street of Shame
Street of Shame is the final film by the great director Kenji Mizoguchi. A story about the dreams and problems of a group of prostitutes living in one gaudy Tokyo brothel, the film features a remarkable performance by the legendary Machiko Kyo. In Japanese with English subtitles.  (1956, Kenji Mizoguchi, 87 minutes, 35mm)


STRUTTER
2012, French Fan Club Films, 87 min, USA, Dir: Allison Anders, Kurt Voss
This inviting B/W comedy set in the L.A. music scene is the final film in a trilogy that began with 1987’s BORDER RADIO. It’s bad enough that young singer Brett (Flannery Lunsford) has just lost his girlfriend; what makes matters worse is that she wound up in the arms of Brett’s idol, rising rocker Damon (Dante White-Aliano). Featuring an original score by Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis.  Discussion following with cast and crew plus live musical performance by J Mascis.


SYBIL
The multiple award-winning made-for-TV movie Sybil was based on the book by Flora Rheta Schreiber. Sally Field won an Emmy for her portrayal of the title character, a substitute teacher in New York who has developed multiple personality disorder. As a coping mechanism to deal with the abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother, Hattie (Martine Bartlett), Sybil created separate personalities: aggressive Peggy Lou, suicidal Mary, baby Sybil Ann, and several others. Joanne Woodward plays Dr. Cornelia Wilbur, the psychologist who diagnoses Sybil's condition and helps her to get over it. William Prince and Jane Hoffman play her father and stepmother, while Brad Davis appears as her would-be boyfriend Richard. Dir. Daniel Petrie, 1976, 16mm, 187 min.  Rare 16mm screening!


Tent of Miracles (Tenda dos milagres) (Brazil, 1977)
Directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos
When a celebrated American anthropologist arrives in Rio to track down an obscure Brazilian sociologist, Pedro Archanjo, the local cultural and political elite clamor to join the Archanjo bandwagon. To their horror, they discover that Archanjo was a turn-of-the-century adherent of candomblé and an advocate of miscegenation as a means of social revolution. Framed as a film within a film, this brilliant and broad satire seamlessly blends political critique and entertainment.
Regina Filmes. Based on a novel by Jorge Amado. Screenwriter: Nelson Pereira dos Santos. Cinematographer: Hélio Silva. Editors: Raimundo Higino, Severino Dada. Cast: Hugo Carvana, Sonia Dias, Anecy Rocha, Jards Macalé, Juarez Paraiso. 
35mm, color, in Portuguese with English subtitles, 148 min.


THÉRÈSE / Thérèse Desqueyroux
Color, 110 min, France, 2012
Directed by: Claude Miller, Written by: Claude Miller, Natalie Carter
This elegant and polished adaptation of Nobel Prize-winner François Mauriac’s novel is the final film of Claude Miller, who passed away shortly after it was finished. Co-written with Natalie Carter, the film is set near the Bordeaux region in the 1920s, where the landed gentry built old-world fortunes on forestry; Thérèse (Tautou) is married off to the boorish, and feckless Bernard Desqueyroux (Lellouche) in order to consolidate two family fortunes. Intensely restless but hopelessly introverted, Thérèse is consigned to the sticks, where she can only dream of escaping to the boisterous Parisian clubs of the Jazz Age. Once pregnant, Thérèse is made clearly aware that Bernard is only interested in the child. Then she accidentally discovers something in her husband’s heart medication that she hopes will provide a solution to her predicament. What happens next will bring ruinous scandal to both families, unless they close ranks and move to intercede in the matter. But regardless of what they must do to avert a crisis, one thing is perfectly clear - the impetuous Thérèse will not go unpunished... 


THURSDAY TILL SUNDAY
It all begins on a Thursday when two children go on a holiday trip with their parents to the north of Chile. It all ends on a Sunday. Lucia (10) and Manuel (7) travel for the long weekend with their parents, Ana and Fernando. The couple has decided to break up but has previously promised their children to go to the north, so they decide to travel anyway. The journey slowly turns into a final goodbye. It’s a long route. The landscape’s loneliness and the car’s confinement begin to surface the troubles of the couple. The children just want to get to the beach; Fernando, to a piece of land his father has left him; and Ana, to a nonexistent place where things are fine again. THURSDAY TILL SUNDAY is Lucia’s distant and fragmented outlook on this last family trip. Running time: 94 minutes.  Written & Directed by Dominga Sotomayor. Produced by Gregorio Gonzalez and Benjamin Domenech 


TOKYO DRIFTER
With its visual daring and breathless action, Tokyo Drifter represents the best of Suzuki's outrageously inventive yazuka films. The conventional story--about a gangster who honors the old code long after it has been abandoned by the new mob--spins deliriously out of control. Hunted by mobsters and his own bosses, the pop-idol hero pouts, poses, and sings through a mad chase across Japan. Disordered, violent, and irreverent, Tokyo Drifter succeeds marvelously as a thriller and a parody. "A jaw-dropping, eye-popping fantasia. Astonishes with style even as it hammers home points about the struggle for individualism" (LA Weekly). In Japanese with English subtitles. (1966, Seijun Suzuki, 89 minutes, 35mm)


TOKYO STORY
One of the legendary classics of humanist cinema, Tokyo Story tells the simple, sad story of an elderly couple who travels to Tokyo to visit their two married children, only to find themselves politely ushered off to a hot springs resort. "A large part of the film's appeal lies in its strict but playful treatment of figures, settings, and movement. Ozu does not eliminate narrative, but he opens it out" (David Bordwell, Film Art). (1953, Yasujiro Ozu, 136 minutes, 35mm)


TO THE WONDER
TO THE WONDER tells the story of Marina (Kurylenko) and Neil (Affleck), who meet in France and move to Oklahoma to start a life together, where problems soon arise. While Marina makes the acquaintance of a priest and fellow exile (Bardem), who is struggling with his vocation, Neil renews a relationship with a childhood sweetheart, Jane (McAdams). Bold and lyrical, the film is a moving, gorgeously shot exploration of love in its many forms. Written and directed by Terrence Malick. 2013, 1 hr. 52 min.  Conversation to follow with producers Nicolas Gonda and Sarah Green. Moderated by Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times film writer.


TRANCES
A documentary profile of the Moroccan acoustic supergroup Nass El Ghiwane. Dir. Ahmed El Maanouni, 1981, 35mm, 90 min.


TRY AND GET ME
1951, Film Noir Foundation, 91 min, USA, Dir: Cy Endfield
The true story of a shocking 1934 kidnapping and murder in San Jose provided the inspiration for one of the most compelling—and unjustly neglected—masterpieces of film noir. Ex-GI Howard Tyler (Frank Lovejoy), struggling to support his family, meets flashy hoodlum Jerry Slocum (Lloyd Bridges), who eases the gullible Howard into a lucrative life of crime. Their escapade turns dark and desperate when Jerry takes hostage the son of a wealthy local businessman. One of the last films made in the U.S. by blacklisted writer/director Cy Endfield before he relocated to England, TRY AND GET ME (originally released as THE SOUND OF FURY) has been restored by the Film Noir Foundation so that it may be experienced in its original form by future generations and assume its rightful status as one of the great films of its era. NOT ON DVD! New 35mm Restoration!


TWICE UPON A TIME
Once upon a time, there were some people called the Rushers of Din. Each night as they slept, sweet dreams were delivered to them from sunny Frivoli, while nightmares came to them from the mysterious Murkworks. But the malevolent master of the Murk, Synonamess Botch, was not content. He wanted the Rushers to have non-stop nightmares. To do that, he would need to gain control of the Cosmic Clock. To accomplish this, he kidnaps the deliverers of the dreams, Greensleeves and the Figmen of Imagination, and then tricks Ralph, the All-Purpose Animal and his pal Mumford into stealing the mainspring from the Cosmic Clock. Realizing they've been tricked, Ralph and Mumford try to get the spring back and prevent Botch from unleashing his nightmare bombs. Along the way, they get help from their Fairy Godmother, Greensleeves' niece Flora Fauna, the junior varsity superhero Rod Rescueman, and Botch's own head nightmare writer, Scuzzbopper.  Insanely rare archival 35mm print, possibly never to play Los Angeles again! Dir. John Korty, 1983, 35mm, 75 min.


Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977)
Directed by Robert Aldrich
Burt Lancaster's attraction to the exploration of paranoid politics runs throughout his filmography, from Seven Days in May (1964) to Executive Action (1973). In his final film with director Robert Aldrich, Lancaster plays his most sympathetic radical as a former general who seizes control of a Midwest nuclear silo (assisted by Paul Winfield and Burt Young) as leverage to force the government to reveal its tragic rationale for prolonging the Vietnam War. Newly restored, Twilight's Last Gleaming deserves reconsideration as a classic anti-war statement.
Allied Artists Pictures, Inc. Producer: Merv Adelson. Based on a novel by Walter Wager. Screenwriters: Ronald M. Cohen, Edward Huebsch. Cinematographer: Robert Hauser. Editor: Michael Luciano. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Charles Durning, Melvyn Douglas, Paul Winfield, Burt Young. 35mm, color, 144 min. 


Twin Peaks Retrospective
Over the course of the Spring 2013 semester, the USC School of Cinematic Arts will host a complete series retrospective of ABC's landmark 1990 prime-time drama, Twin Peaks, created by David Lynch & Mark Frost. Each week, episodes of the series will be followed by in-depth Q&As with key cast & crew from the production.  Guests will include Mark Frost, Duwayne Dunham, Ron Garcia, Grace Zabriskie, Mädchen Amick, Dana Ashbrook, Robert Engels, Peggy Lipton, Johanna Ray, Charlotte Stewart, Richard Hoover, Philip D. Segal, Carel Struycken, and Lenny Von Dohlen.  Coffee and pie and/or donuts will be served at intermission.  A 35mm screening of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me will take place in May, also followed by a Q&A.


Ulzana's Raid (1972)
Directed by Robert Aldrich
In a career already marked by images of brutal violence, Robert Aldrich still manages to up the ante in this Vietnam-era Western about a troop of soldiers on the hunt for a renegade Indian. Burt Lancaster plays the world-weary Army scout instead of the renegade—as he did in his first outing with Aldrich, Apache (1954)—with Bruce Davison as the earnest, young Lieutenant who grapples with the hard realities of vengeance, pride and survival on the frontier.
Universal Pictures. Producer: Carter DeHaven. Screenwriter: Alan Sharp. Cinematographer: Joseph Biroc. Editor: Michael Luciano. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Bruce Davison, Jorge Luke, Richard Jaeckel, Joaquin Martinez. 35mm, color, 103 min.


UNDERCOVER MAN
1949, Sony Repertory, 85 min, USA, Dir: Joseph H. Lewis
Film noir master Joseph H. Lewis (GUN CRAZY) directs a stellar cast that includes Glenn Ford, Nina Foch and James Whitmore (in his movie debut). The story, loosely based on the exploits of Al Capone, follows a mob kingpin being hunted by feds looking to convict him on tax-evasion charges.


Vera Cruz (1954)
Directed by Robert Aldrich.
Burt Lancaster bends his famous grin into a sadistic sneer as outlaw Joe Erin in his second outing with director Robert Aldrich, adding a particularly savage streak to this Western high adventure set during the Mexican Revolution. Gary Cooper plays Erin's reluctant partner, a disgraced southern officer turned mercenary after the Civil War, on a mission to escort a Spanish countess (Darcel) to Vera Cruz until rebels and rumors of gold pit one against the other.
United Artists Corp. Producer: James Hill. Screenwriter: Roland Kibbee, James R. Webb. Cinematographer: Ernest Laszlo. Cast: Gary Cooper, Burt Lancaster, Denise Darcel, Cesar Romero, Sarita Montiel.  35mm, color, 94 min. 


WAYNE'S WORLD
Featuring an onstage discussion hosted by producer Lorne Michaels, with stars Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, and director Penelope Spheeris.  Introduced by the film’s executive producer (and Academy President) Hawk Koch.
Twenty-one years ago, Mike Myers made his film debut alongside Dana Carvey in a big-screen version of their beloved “Saturday Night Live” sketch about two metal-head teenagers named Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar. Our panel will celebrate their 21st by recounting their adventures in creating this pop culture classic.


WITNESS: JUAREZ & WITNESS: SOUTH SUDAN
Drug trafficking, poverty, gang violence, corruption and ethnic warfare have created some of the most dangerous hot spots on Earth. In WITNESS, the four-part HBO Documentary Films series, our current generation of war photojournalists carry us into the heart of the human drama of the people in the action on the ground. We see what compels the photojournalist and experience why, when everyone else seeks cover, the photojournalist stands and moves closer. WITNESS: JUAREZ—Pro journalist Eros Hoagland has worked in conflict zones in Iraq, Afghanistan and Haiti, but his focus here is Juarez, Mexico, the murder capital of the world. Drug violence in Juarez has left roughly 19,000 dead, and the drugs are still flowing north. Eros began work as a photojournalist in 1993, covering the aftermath of El Salvador’s civil war. He has since worked in Iraq, Haiti, Afghanistan and Columbia. His father, Newsweek photographer John Hoagland, was killed in El Salvador when Eros was a boy. Eros looks for an emotional narrative within the subjects. Directed by David Frankham; produced by Ike Martin, Alison Kunzman and Youree Henley. WITNESS: SOUTH SUDAN—In South Sudan, thousands have been killed, abducted or displaced by Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army. French photojournalist Veronique de Viguerie travels with the Arrow Boys, an unpaid militia of farmers who took up arms to protect their families from the LRA. For the last two decades, Joseph Kony has led a campaign of unfathomable brutality in an attempt to impose his command as the law of the land. His forces have kidnapped and forced into sexual or military slavery an estimated 60,000 children and driven two million of Uganda’s people from their homes. The pregnant de Viguerie treks through wilderness with the Arrow Boys, as well as with the Ugandan Army. On a night patrol she is asked if she ever gets scared. She replies, “Sometimes…but here there is no time.” Directed by David Frankham; produced by Julie Herrin and Josiah Hooper. Witness: South Sudan editor Nicholas Monsour in person!


YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHIN’ YET / Vous n’avez encore rien vu
115 min, France, 2012
Directed by: Alain Resnais, Written by: Alain Resnais, Laurent Herbiet
As a last request from a recently deceased playwright, thirteen actors who were close to him are summoned to his palatial home for a special purpose: they must decide, based solely on a recorded performance, if a young troop of actors are good enough to stage a new production of his famous play Eurydice. All of the playwright’s friends (a preeminent cast, all playing themselves) have acted in the play in the past, and they soon find themselves swept into their roles again, passing effortlessly between imagination and reality, memory and the present, just as Orpheus passes between life and death in the play. At age 90, the venerated master of French cinema Alain Resnais has turned in a thoughtful work that is at once a savvy valedictory on his career and an attempt to eradicate the distinction between reality and theatrical artifice. 

ARCHIVE